A buggy wolf
by Consort
Summary: Post-MMBN6. An unskilled teen looking for a Navi to replace their generic model ends up with far more than they could have bargained for. And the responsibility that comes with it. Now with BETTER cover art by JaneValentine007! Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Forenote: "Consort, why are you doing this? You already have a story in progress!" Well I don't feel motivated for it and it's not working out, so here's a different one that's been rattling around in my head for a while. Like a long while. I wrote it's key points down in a pad of paper about... 3 years ago? Enjoy.**

"Arthur, I can't believe you still don't have a custom Navi." Said a boy with almost explosively messy brown hair and a black sports shirt. A PET in olive green was in his hand, Navi on the homescreen.

Arthur shrugged. As normal, he was wearing a comfortable grey jacket with a dozen pockets, a cheap white shirt and baggy jeans. His hair was not as messy as his friend's, but still seemed dirty and in need of combing. A standard PET with a standard Navi poked out of a pocket on the shirt's chest. "Well, I've said it before. I'm not getting a custom Navi until I can commission someone who'll do it right."

"You know they can cost hundreds of thousands of zenny. What have you even got saved?" Asked the sporty boy.

"Uhh... about one hundred thousand in total. My parents aren't big on pocket money, but my grandma gives me some every time we visit. Plus there's always the stuff you can get for deleting viruses." His Navi made a disapproving sigh at the mention of the malicious programs. "Oh come on, I know you're not designed for busting, but I don't pick fights we can't win handily." The Navi rolled its eyes.

"You should learn programming, like me. ArsenalMan turns just about everything into cinders after a few shots. And he can take them, too." Said the other boy.

His PET bleeped. "Damn straight sir! And I'm reminding you now: you have two minutes before you need to be home, so if you want to give him that chip, hurry it up!"

The sporty boy smiled. "Right, I was busting in the Old Undernet last night and I have a few good chips. I have five of these, so you can have this." He rummaged around in his pocket, and fished out a chip. He tossed it to Arthur.

"Oh cheers, William. I've actually been looking for a colorpoint." Said Arthur, pocketing the chip.

"You keep it. I'd better go now." Said William, walking off.

* * *

Later, in his room, Arthur looked at his PC and frowned. Saving his Zenny was going alright, but everyone else had gotten a custom Navi months ago. "Alright, connect." He pointed his PET at the computer and beamed in the basic Navi. Thinking out loud, he said "You know... Maybe we should try and go to more dangerous areas. We can handle the viruses here no problem. William's even managing the older undernet of all places. Sure, it's safer than the new one by miles, but... You know what. Screw it. We have undershirt. Let's go to the old Undernet."

He sat down and started entering commands. Out of the homepage, through VillageArea, to the main internet, and to the Undernet. "Wow, than Lan guy really did a number on this place in that fight." Said Arthur, surveying the area. It was a net legend how Lan Hikari and MagaMan had fought against Bass here, and the conflict had nearly deleted the entire area. Bits of pathway were missing or fragmented, and even the backdrop seemed to be stuttering where the file had been damaged.

The basic navi looked around. "I do not deem this area safe."

Arthur looked down. "You're right. It's giving me the creeps. Sorry for taking you here. Come on, let's go- OH JEEZ!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, a virus had emerged. It looked angry, to say the least.

"Uhh, it's a Spikey, but it's gold... Well, here goes! Engage, Navi." Said Arthur, readying his chips.

The Spikey3 shot a fireball, just like its weaker equivalent. Unlike the weaker equivalent, it travelled three times as fast, burned through all the HP the basic Navi had, and activated the undershirt, leaving it at 1HP. Arthur accidentally screamed under his breath.

"RUN! RUN! GO OH MY GOD!" He yelled at the Navi. It was happy enough to comply, righting itself and setting off at a sprint. Arthur started slamming in directional commands to try and throw it off, sending the Navi this way and that. It was no use, and the Spikey3 kept pursuing as the Navi moved deeper into the abandoned section of the net.

He ran and ran, but neither entity had stamina to deplete. And then, was the one thing that sent Arthur's heart plummeting, ending in his mouth. A dead end. The Spikey3 knew nothing of mercy, and shot another lethal bolt of fire at his Navi's back.

"DUCK!" Yelled Arthur.

The bolt clipped his Navi's shoulder, and took the arm off. The body dissociated into data immediately. The screen on his PET went black.

Arthur was silent for a long five minutes. Then he disconnected the PET, and stared at it.

* * *

In the old undernet, as the Navi's core programming malfunctioned and some of the systems keeping it running failed, the programmed gravity allowed the semi-functioning body to fall off the walkway, into the raw data containment of the network.

Allow me to explain what happens if a Navi falls off the walkway, and why their programming actually prevents them doing so unless they explicitly attempt to. Under the walkway, in any network, is raw data. Every single bit of data on the entire server that isn't a Navi. Falling in will randomly dump the Navi at any location on the server, but with no regard to the Navi, and not preserving any operation they're running. ANY. The lifeless body of the Navi was dumped on surprisingly smooth and intact white tiles.

And next to it, a formless mass realised there was something. Not by any chain of definable thought, it decided that that it needed to go to the body. It was almost an instinct. As the mass started to break down the Navi into bugfrags, a program activated.

-PET Disconnecting. Jacking out.

The remnants of the Navi disappeared, taking the second program with them.

* * *

The PET beeped. Arthur sat up in shock. An automated message began to roll. "Navi severely damaged. Please contact support."

"Oh my god, are you alive?!" Arthur scrambled to bring the device out of idle. The screen flickered to life. The intro screen played a loading animation, then stuttered. "Do NOT pull a loading error on me now, Please." It jumped back to the start of the animation, and then immediately to the Navi customiser.

The Navi was nowhere to be seen. The area that would usually display it was displaying a solid gray. Arthur slumped, and looked at the rest of the screen. His Zenny count was untouched, but they were banked elsewhere anyway. HP was blank. The basic folder was selected. Bugfrags were at...

"What on earth..."

The counter for Bugfrags was at 000. A PET could store 999 before needing some be moved to a storage unit, but at none it would display a single zero. Not 3.

"How many Bugfrags are in here?"

There was no response from his Navi. However, detecting a verbal command gave the program the kick it needed to start running. A growl came from the speakers, and then the screen froze, repeating the last section of the growl over and over.

Arthur was shaken a little, and nervously went to his PC, and started opening his PET interface files. He was no programmer, but he had to try. He asked it to connect to his PET and display information.

'PET currently overloaded!'

There were a few options beneath. Arthur clicked troubleshoot.

'PET currently running a Navi with specifications above model. Detecting additional problems... Bugfrag storage full. Deposit 322 Bugfrags to PC?'

Arthur clicked Deposit All.

'1321 Bugfrags recieved.'

As Arthur ogled the number, the PET suddenly unfroze. It seemed to be running fine, the navi display was empty, but had a normal blue wireframe background, the commands were responsive... and his PC was glitching up.

Arthur watched as his Bugfrag count dropped to zero in horror. Bugfrags were amazingly valuable to scientists, and hard to collect. Ten would have fetched five thousand Zenny from Scilabs easily.

And then, a humanoid form started to manifest on his screen. Arthur went from lamenting the loss of five hundred thousand Zenny to looking at the glitchy mass in bewilderment. The speakers played a growling sound again. Arthur looked at it, and realised that if it was humanoid, then there was data for that shape in there. That data could only have come from his own Navi. "You ARE alive. I'll save you. Just don't delete yourself. Navi restorer... where is that program..."

He found and clicked the icon, bringing up a screen.

'Navi(s) detected! Select Navi.

1) Gospel

2) -

3)-'

"Gospel?" The name was familiar. Hadn't the infamous Lan fought a terrorist group by the same name? Arthur clicked anyway. This had to be his Navi. It had to be.

'Displaying status.

HP) 0

Armor) False

Type) False

PET Requirement) Custom: (!) outside CPU specifications.

Auto repair possible) False: core data not found'

"Custom?" Said Arthur. PETs came in many specifications, and you needed more powerful ones to run more powerful Navis, but a basic Navi would run on anything. His PET was relatively new, and even if it wasn't the most powerful model available, surely it could run his Navi no matter what. His PC was even more powerful, though not by much. Yet even it couldn't run whatever his Navi had become.

He thought for a second. There was a more powerful computer in the house. His father's. It was state of the art. If that couldn't run this Navi, then nothing would. But how to transfer it? Surely there was a command... Wait, of course.

Arthur took the PET and asked the computer to transfer the Navi back. A warning message appeared. 'PET insufficient to run Navi! Continue anyway?' Arthur confirmed. The PET froze again, as the bugfrag counter _jumped back to 000._ Arthur was not a tech wizard, but he put two and two together. The Navi and the Bugfrags were linked.

He left the bedroom and poked his head into the living room. "Dad? Can I use your computer?" He realized he didn't want to explain he was going to put what could well be the data equivalent of a nuclear bomb onto it. "...Mine can't connect to the internet."

"Okay, I'll fix yours tomorrow son. Play safe."

Arthur winced at that. "Okay!"

He sat down, and booted up his dad's PC. He navigated the menus in record time, and had Navi repair open in seconds. He went through the routine, and asked it to run 'Gospel'.

A shimmering grey mass appeared, in the 'T' position of a basic model. The computer stuttered briefly, but then continued to run, to Arthur's relief. Another loud growl played through the speakers, but then stopped. Another message appeared.

'Voice file not found. Displaying speech as text."

"Hello? Are... you okay, Navi?" Said Arthur cautiously.

"I AM ALIVE."

"Well... that's good... can... can you forgive me for that?"

"I AM THE ENTITY GOSPEL. I AM ALSO YOUR NAVI."

"What..?"

Another loud growl played through the speakers. The form started to pixelate and shift violently. Yet another message from the program appeared on the screen. 'Navi has encountered an error. Code: 0000-0021'

Arthur opened the web browser. "Navi error code... 0000, 00, two, one... Navi is missing code." Arthur looked down. He looked at the clock. "I'm not a programmer... At least, not yet."

He searched for how to open a Navi's code. He searched for how to write programs. He searched and searched and searched. And an hour later, he cracked his knuckles and opened Gospel's code.

A second text box appeared. "GET OUT OF THERE"

"I'm trying to help you..." Said Arthur.

"OUT!" Another loud roar played over the speakers.

"Is that roar the only sound file you have?"

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT"

"No. You can't stop me either, because to resist this, and shut down my access to your code... you'd need to be in working order."

"AAAAAAAAAA"

"Look, just tell me if anything feels different. I'm going to try and patch you up."

"I AM YOUR NAVI! BUT I AM NOT YOUR NAVI!"

"Speak again and I'll shut the text box. Okay, first things first, your model isn't loading..."

Arthur used a search function and an online guide to a Navi's code to find where it would be stored. He looked over the code, painstakingly comparing it to the bare bones of the code on the page. About half the letters were missing. Copy, delete, paste, save changes.

The glitchy mass solidified, and was replaced by a clear-cut... wolf humanoid? The Navi before him had gray armor over their forearms, chest and head, that appeared to be made of bugfrags. Yellow dots covered it, and indented lines ran rampant. The jumpsuit where he wasn't plated in gray bugfrags was an unhealthy purple shade, just like normal bugfrags. But most interestingly, his head resembled some kind of cyber wolf. Complete with glowing red eyes.

"Woah there. That's... kind of intense." Commented Arthur.

"I STILL WANT YOU OUT OF MY CODE" The model's mouth moved open, and the roar sound file played again.

"Shut up, I'm helping. Well. The internet is helping."

"I AM AWARE THIS WORD MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO SOME OF YOU HUMANS, PLEASE"

"Even your punctuation is in caps? I'll fix that next then."

"PLEASE"

"I appreciate you're being polite, but no. If I get out of your code you'll stay broken." Arthur again searched for a file. This time, communications. "Dang, this one is complicated... It's directly linked to your central AI... Okay, Navi-"

"GOSPEL"

"...Gospel. I know you want me doing nothing to your code, so I'm just going to say... I'm sorry if I muck this up. It might kill you if I do."

"GET OUT"

"..."

"I DO NOT NEED HUMANS"

"...What?"

"I DO NOT NEED HUMANS"

"Why?"

"THEY CREATED ME AND DESTROYED ME IN 7.4765531 MINUTES THEY BRING MY END"

"...What on earth is in your past... No. Gospel, listen to me. Perhaps some other humans have been cruel to you, but that makes it more important I prove that we're not all like that."

"I AM TRYING TO DESTROY YOUR COMPUTER"

"Why?"

"IT IS THE PURPOSE OF MY BEING TO DESTROY ALL"

"...Hmm. Then..." Arthur was silent as he considered what he was going to try and do next. "I'll disconnect it. If I can find it. At least, I'll try to."

"YOU WILL DESTROY ME"

"Not on purpose. Besides... some part of you wants me to succeed, right? Why else would you tip me off?"

"THAT IS THE NAVI I AM FUSED WITH WHAT IS LEFT OF IT"

"Ohhh. So... they're holding you back from being a complete raging beast, but you're still the dominant personality?"

"YES"

"Well. I better get to work. I think this is a simple fix..."

"DO NOT KILL ME"

"Trying. I really am."

Arthur looked at the code on screen and tried to work out what it should be. He gave up and started reading through the communication program manually. One thing that stood out were missing letters in words. Dozens of small bits of code were missing letters in keywords, and you didn't need programming experience to know that was bad. He re-read the whole section again. Eventually, he noticed a jarring line. He studied it closely, and eventually said. "I think there's a line missing here. It's the one that lets you use lowercase. Here goes." He started to type, copying the commands of earlier lines, the 'if:' and trying to remember all the situations lowercase would be used in. After a long time, and three rechecks, he leaned back from his single line of code.

"Gospel? Speak to me."

"Get out of my code."

"Hooray! Doesn't that feel better?"

"I'm scared you're going to get overconfident. Or say, 'screw it!' and try and go right for my programmed purpose, which would be really dangerous to disconnect, and kill me!" Replied Gospel.

"I'm not going to disconnect it. I think I have a plan for this. You should have two core purposes. Destroy, and Serve. Serve from my Navi. I'm going to switch them, once I find them. Then you should be able to follow orders, at least to a degree. Not perfect AI, but better."

"Please don't."

"If I don't then I can't fix you without blowing up the computer. No." Arthur jumped to the core AI. The code seemed endless, easily going past 1000 pages. "Man. There is a lot in here. I see why personalities can't be reproduced." He started searching for the command that defined the Navi before him, and the second command that was being run to counteract it. It took a long time, but eventually, he found them. Once he was confident he had the two sections isolated, he cut the 'Serve' personality.

"Destroy. I will destroy. Delete. Delete. Delete!"

He pasted the 'Serve personality to the first slot, and cut 'Destroy'.

"I am Gospel, your Navi. I will try to follow commands."

Arthur considered not replacing 'Destroy'. But... it was a defining part of this Navi. And taking it away... he probably wouldn't forgive him. He pasted it back into the second slot.

"I feel strange. I ask you stop editing my code. Call a professional."

"That's the dangerous bit over with. Tell me. Are you trying to destroy my computer?"

"No."

"Oh, thank goodness! Right then. I want to take you with me tomorrow, and it's getting late, so what I'm going to do is reduce your filesize."

"Please leave me be. I won't bite anything... hard."

"Nothing is getting deleted, Gospel. And I'll get out of your code after. It looks like there's a ton of useless code in here, I'm sure it's not the bugfrags and I'm sure it won't affect you, so I'm going to move it to a seperate file. Arthur split the file. Gospel froze. "Oh no." He looked at the coder's wiki frantically, and back to his code, trying to remember everything he'd learned in the last few hours. And to his satisfaction, spotted one thing missing. Considering he hadn't added it to a few other programs on purpose to stop Gospel forcing him out of his code, he was surprised. He added a simple '}' to the end of the program.

Gospel unfroze. "I feel... faster. Unbound."

"Okay, I'm going to re-enable your other programs... you won't be totally under my control, but... please follow instructions."

"Fine. Hurry up!"

Arthur added another three '}' symbols. As soon as the last one was added, the window shut. "Okay, all done. I'm totally new to this, but at least half of it was directly copied from the web, so that'll be correct. Now, can you get in my PET? I have to turn this computer off, and while that won't kill you, it apparently really sucks."

"...Fine. Let's go destroy some viruses!" Gospel disappeared from the screen, and the PET lit up. It stuttered, but just about ran the living glitch.

"Alright! And... oh, you don't have a Navi mark. Or a voice, for that matter. I'll have to fix that..."

"You are NOT going back inside me!"

"Why are you so sensitive about that? It went alright?"

"Imagine an untrained surgeon just rummaging around with your guts, looking for something wrong with them!"

"...ew. Well, I can customise the mark externally. I... will need to go back in to add a voice."

"Then I'll do without one."

"Okay. It's pretty late, and I have school tomorrow, but... I guess I should try and make it up to you, for all that coding. I'll take you for a test battle against something easy." Arthur checked the stats page.

'Gospel.

200/? HP

Folder not selected!

Type: Neutral

Secondary programmes equipped: None

Navi of Arthur Penn.

000 Bugfrags.'

200 health. Good enough to escape alive if Gospel's fighting routines were broken. Arthur frowned. Where on earth had the bits of this Navi come from? How had they merged with his old Navi? How was he going to explain this to everyone? And where was his Undershirt? Had it been deleted?!

"Hey, Gospel."

"...Mm? :(" It replied.

"Uh, why the frowny face? And also, what do you want the command I give to tell you to connect to the net be? Normally the operator would choose, but... I owe you, I guess."

"The 'frowny face' is because I don't like you for going in my code. I'm angry. Anyway. I want 'Gospel, destroy! :)'" Replied a white text box.

"...something I can say that won't allow you to kill the first thing you see?"

"Gospel, hunt. :)"

"...close enough. Okay then... Gospel, hunt!" The PET beeped as it sent the Navi into the net.

* * *

Arthur yawned. Gospel looked around, mouth hanging open. "What... this place is so big. :O" wrote the text box.

"It's just the village network. There are some that are a hundred times bigger."

"...Wow. ,':l"

"So, we'll just go and bust a mettaur first, to see what you can do. Follow the arrow I create for you." Arthur entered a move command, and Gospel tentatively followed. He stumbled a few times. Arthur noted his legs were reverse jointed, like a canine. "I didn't touch your walking code." Said Arthur pre-emptively.

"I feel really weird. Like I should be walking some other way. :l"

"Anyway, mettaurs. You can generally find them over there."

"Yes, I detect one. :("

"After it!"

"RAAAAAA! :O" Gospel started running for the open area.

"...You still don't have a voice." Reminded Arthur.

":("

"Oh, we need a phrase to tell you to engage combat, too."

"Gospel, destroy! :D"

"Gospel, destroy."

Gospel watched the Mettaur turn and produce a pickaxe. He focused on the target before him. A command from the PET's console appeared' 'No chips loaded. NetOp online."

Arthur leaned into the screen. "Alright, Gospel- let's see your default weapon."

Gospel stretched their arms out to the side. The fingers were instantly replaced with three large and lethal-looking claws on each hand.

"You got any info on those?" Asked Arthur.

"No. :D"

"Well, go wild I guess. It's just a Mettaur."

Gospel lunged forwards, swiping at the virus' face. The claws raked across, and Arthur saw it's displayed health drop from 40 to 20. The Mettaur swung its pick into the ground, sending a shockwave.

"Sidestep it."

Gospel stepped to the side, nearly tripping over their own feet. It lunged again, and the Mettaur was deleted.

":D"

"Happy now?"

"Yes. Can I destroy another one? :D"

"Not right now. I-" Arthur yawned. "REALLY need to sleep."

"Oh. :("

"Don't be so sad. I'll introduce you to my friends tomorrow. Hopefully you'll like meeting other Navis. And also, what do you want your recall command to be?"

"...I'm not sure. I can't make it destruction-themed. :l"

"Gospel, back?"

"Fine. :("

"Gospel, back." The buggy wolf recalled to the PET.

 **Author's notes: So, how did I do so far? This story does not occur in the city Lan moved to, although he will eventually come into it, as will many other battle network characters you know and love. Alongside a good handful of OC's friend and foe alike! Battles in this will be in between the Anime and the games. No tiles, and jumping is allowed, but HP is displayed and chips have letter codes. All reviews will be answered at the end of the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: School

"Arthur!" Called his mother. "ARTHUR, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Arthur slowly sat up. Then he saw his PET, remembered the craziness of last night, and jolted awake. "COMING!" He ripped his pyjamas off, threw his clothes on, and slipped his PET and his few chips into his pocket.

The PET made a pinging noise as some text was displayed from Gospel. Arthur rounded into the bathroom, spent all of thirty seconds whizzing his toothbrush around his mouth, and dashed out, nearly fell down the stairs, and landed at the dining table.

His mother looked at him in surprise. "...That was fast, dear."

"Mmhm!" Agreed Arthur, his mouth full of toast. He wolfed down two slices, sprinted over to his shoes and tied them on, grabbed his bag and made it to the door. Remembering the ping from his PET, he took it out to see Gospel staring at him with it's glowing red eyes.

"I thought you'd died. I played the roar at full volume and you didn't move." Read the message.

Arthur smiled. "Aww, you _do_ care!"

"I am able to both care, and dislike you."

"Well, I'll take it." He glanced at the clock, and realised he'd made it to the door ten minutes early. He shrugged and set out for school.

* * *

The village's school was only a ten minute walk away, so Arthur decided to take a detour to the Chip shop. While not as large as a shop you'd find in a city, you could definately pick up some good chips there. And with all the money he'd been saving...

The PET pinged. Arthur opened it. "Your school is that way. Where are we going?"

"The chip shop. I'll be quick, but you'll love what I get for you." replied Arthur.

"What is it?"

"Battlechips. I didn't test them with you last night, I was too tired. But they contain weapons for Navis."

"I remember battlechips!"

"Oh? Where from?"

"...I don't know. I remember Wind, Fan, and Gateman... really hurts..."

"That's oddly specific. Who's Gateman?"

"I don't know."

"Oh well. We're here!" Arthur looked around the shop, admiring the racks and racks of chips he'd previously had to abstain from. "What-is-in-stock?" he sung. Hundreds of 'Vulcan' chips lined shelves, a few seed chips and panelbacks filled a display cabinet, and all manner of swords decorated the walls. Arthur was overwhelmed. "Uhh... I have no idea what three-quarters of these do. I'll just grab the basics." He walked around, picking up an areasteal, a vulcan1, a longsword and a spreader. "I think that's one of every type..." He walked up to the counter and paid.

The cashier looked at him. "Oh, finally buying? I thought you were saving."

Arthur glanced around. "Not anymore."

"Okay, that's two thousand, seven hundred Zenny."

Arthur scanned his PET to pay.

* * *

As he was walking back to school, Gospel started messaging again.

"What did you buy?"

"Battlechips. I think I have a teleport, the vulcan I need for a program advance, a sword, and a powerful gun."

"Gimme. O_O"

"Not until you're in battle."

"Fine. And I have a question. :l"

"Yeah?"

"How do I put these away? ;l" Gospel raised his hands. They still had the claws instead of fingers.

Arthur bit his lip. "I... think that's a bug. Oh! There's Joe! JOE! HEY!"

A blonde, straight-haired boy turned and waved, a yellow-orange PET in his hands. "Arthur! Where were you?"

"The chip shop."

"The chip shop? Does that mean-" asked Joe.

"Joe, meet Gospel!" Arthur displayed the screen.

"Wow, he looks... intense. I guess he'll want to meet MathMan."

The PET pinged. "MathMan? That's not very intimidating..." texted Gospel.

Before Joe could defend his Navi, Arthur jumped in. "Oh no you don't. You do not talk smack about MathMan until you've seen him fight, because Joe here might be a straight A student, but he is probably the strongest Netbattler here."

"',:l"

Joe tapped in some commands. "Okay, they should be able to talk."

"Hey there." Came a deep voice from Joe's PET.

* * *

Gospel looked at the Navi on the other end of the chat connection. His suit was extremely light blue with orange segments, plated with large yellow boots, gloves and and X shaped chestpiece. The Navi mark on his chest displayed an infinity sign. A yellow helmet with a black visor and orange crest covered the Navi's face. He looked over Gospel and chuckled. "Joe was right. You look intense."

"You look... yellow? ':l" Texted Gospel awkwardly.

MathMan burst out laughing. "Oh, I don't know if you're serious or insulting me, but either way, that's an invitation to battle."

Gospel perked up. "Battle? When? :)"

"You're a bloodhound, I see."

"I just like destroying things. :l"

"Okay, an _edgy_ bloodhound. Afternoon break. Classes start in a minute."

"I'll be there! :D"

On cue, the bell rang. The two boys stuffed their PETs into their pockets and walked over to the classroom. Arthur sat down in his cheap plastic chair, and opened the PET's screen. "Alright, before I let you into the servers... No picking fights. And if you get in a tight spot, either text me and I'll get you out, or ask any other Navi and they'll get my attention."

"Not even viruses? -_-"

"Not unless I'm watching over you. I lost the Navi that became you to them, I won't let you get lost too."

"Fine. :("

"Gospel, hunt." Arthur established a connection between the desk's port and the PET. Gospel disappeared, and the screen was replaced by a third person view of him. Arthur left the PET to one side and pretended to be paying any degree of attention to the schoolwork.

* * *

Gospel looked around. At least twenty Navis were in the server around him, all brightly-coloured and customised to varying degrees. "MathMan? :o" He texted.

"Behind you." came the deep, calm voice.

"I'm excited to meet you! I really can't wait to fight. :D"

MathMan smiled sagely. "Don't be so hasty. You still need to meet everyone, at least in Arthur's circle of friends."

"Where are they? Can they fight too? :)"

"Follow me." Said MathMan. "We're all quite customised, although I've never seen a Navi with modifications like yours before." He came up to a pair of talking Navis. "Meet PlugMan and ArsenalMan."

The first Navi was hovering off the floor. Two giant electrical plugs made shoulderguards, and his jumpsuit resembled woven cable. A socket was plated onto his chest. Brass gauntlets protected his hands, and he had his Navi mark on either arm, a triangle with two lines coming from the top face and one from the bottom tip to resemble a plug.

The second was largely plated in olive green armor, covered in hatches. His helmet was angular, with an antenna coming off the right side. He wasn't too bulky, save for his very prominent arsenal. Twin gatling guns were held up by the power pack on his back, poking over either shoulder. Each gauntlet had a small tank cannon attatched to the top. The sides of his boots had missile pods. His mark was a rather fitting stylised explosion.

MathMan nodded "And guys, meet Gospel. He's Arthur's."

"Good morning soldier!"

"'sup."

"Are you good at fighting? :D" Gospel asked, already knowing the answer.

"I am a military grade program! I am required to be!"

"mmph... yea."

":D !" Gospel texted. "Oh... Who are your NetOps?"

"Cadet Willam!"

"Denny."

"I don't know them... :l"

"Say..." Plugman drawled. "Why don't you have a voice?"

"I don't have the file for one, and I don't like anyone going in my code! X("

"Well, it has been good to meet you sir! We'll be watching your fight at lunch!" Said ArsenalMan.

"Yeah. Anyway... who customised you? I can't tell if they're great or trash..." Asked PlugMan.

Gospel tilted his large head sideways. "Arthur I guess. He... _did_ manage to make me run. :l"

MathMan looked at Gospel through his visor. "Arthur? But he's never programmed in his life. And you're obviously an exceptionally heavily customised Navi. Something there doesn't add up."

Gospel suddenly collapsed.

ArsenalMan was kneeling in a flash. "Your system seems to have encountered an error, soldier. ME-DIIIC!" He shouted. A lightly customised HealNavi ran over.

Gospel sat up. "It's okay! I just can't seem to keep my balance. T.T"

The HealNavi looked him straight in the red eyes. "You have SO many bugs."

"Like... how many?" Probed PlugMan.

The HealNavi shrugged "You're like, literally, more bugs than Navi."

"Well, I don't care! :)" Gospel staggered to their feet.

The HealNavi sighed. "You should really get your NetOp to fix that. How did you even get so many?"

"I ate them, I think? :)"

"I have many questions." Said MathMan.

"Seconded." Added ArsenalMan.

"Yeah." Said PlugMan.

Gospel looked down. "Can... you guys not tell anyone?"

"As long as we're not asked directly." Said MathMan.

"I remember loads of bits of two other lives. First, I was only alive for a few minutes, then I was... half-deleted, then I spent some time fused with another Navi, but he was injured and discarded my program, then I woke up in Arthur's computer. He... was poking around in my code, trying to get it to run. Apparently a lot of it was missing or broken. And I really hated it, because I remembered he was a really bad programmer and I thought he'd destroy me. And he just wouldn't stop... It feels good to say that. I'm grateful but I hate him. :)"

MathMan just stared "Well, you need to let someone clean all those bugs out."

"No! I like them. ;("

"Soldier they will kill you from the inside out. They're ticking time bombs, and when they go off you will be deleted." Added ArsenalMan.

Before they could argue further, there was a warning siren.

* * *

"All students, please remain seated and withdraw your Navis." Blared the address system. The teacher ran out of the room.

Arthur glanced back to Joe. "What's going on?"

Joe shrugged. "Something that would endanger us if we went outside. Denny, have you still got the cameras tapped?"

A stick-thin boy with light brown hair slowly sat up. "Don't rush me..." He entered some commands into his PET. "Oh, we're being robbed." He said nonchalantly.

"What?!" Said William, under his breath.

"We are being robbed. Three men, in the network, trying to break into the cafeteria safe. They must be after the week's takings." repeated Denny.

"Do we try and stop them? It could be dangerous, but we can't let criminals go unpunished..." Asked William.

Arthur was staring at his PET "Gospel! Where are you going?!"

Joe leaned over Arthur's shoulder. "Can't you jack him out?"

"The network is getting buggy! :)" Texted Gospel.

Arthur was sweating "Gospel, these are hardened criminals. They'll delete you on sight."

"Who? :l"

"We're being robbed. They're after the Zenny in the cafeteria. And... I'm not willing to risk you. Gospel, back."

The Wolf-like Navi appeared in the PET. ":("

William narrowed his eyes. "Hey, Denny... Does that one guy look kind of familiar to you?"

"Oh, you mean- oh, bugger... Why won't he learn?" Said Denny. He seemed to be a carbon copy of his Navi for attitude.

"Who is he?" Asked Joe.

"It's my cousin. That one who got arrested a few months ago for theft. And then begged me for bail money." Answered Denny. "You know how we were going to follow the rules and stay out of this? Can... I get a favour?"

William smiled widely "Yes."

Gospel's mouth opened, forming an actual ':D' alongside the text one.

"Let's kick his butt. Oh, yall take these." Said Denny. He rummaged around in his schoolbag, pulled out a sack of chips and extracted a few ZapRings. "He uses a water Navi. Don't delete, just force them out. PlugMan, in." He beamed his Navi into the network.

"ArsenalMan, to attention!"

"MathMan, Jack in."

"Gospel... hunt." Said Arthur cautiously. "Stay near the others. If we four move together, we'll be safer in combat. William, you're the military guy. Take the lead."

"Of course. Navis, fall in behind ArsenalMan. We move for the cafeteria. Beware of viruses." He ordered.

Mettaurs were plentiful, alongside a high concentration of Stampy viruses. Gospel tried to help in combat, but the viruses weren't attacking in a co-ordiated fashion, and his allies had powerful ranged attacks. It didn't take long to reach the safe.

PlugMan sauntered up. "Hey ChillMan. Nothing personal." The blue-white navi spun around to face him, and PlugMan poked him in the chest. "Zzzzap." ChillMan flew back a few paces from the jolt of elec data. Chillman was almost entirely ice, a small cascade of shards around him.

The two navis either side of him assumed defensive positions. "Run now, or you'll have the whole gang on you." Said one. "Not backing down? Your deletion, kids." They pulled busters out.

"ArsenalMan, to war!" The Olive Navi entered combat against the leftmost Navi.

"PlugMan. Drop the act." Instantly, lightning surrounded him.

"MathMan, resolve combat." MathMan's right hand disappeared, and two orange spheres orbited the cylindrical gauntlet. A '0' appeared at the end, and stretched out into a long blade.

Arthur took a moment to get his bearings, new to operating. "Gospel, destroy!"

Gospel lunged for the closest target, ArsenalMan's foe. The enemy cocked his buster and fired straight into Gospel's face. His HP dropped from 200 to 170.

Arthur frantically loaded his folder, and grabbed his chips from his bag. "Gospel are you hurt!?"

":D!"

"Right... I'll send a chip. Vulcan1, on the way." Said Arthur, slotting in the chip.

Gospel's frame stuttered for a second, and the small gun appeared on his arm. He jumped to the side as the enemy navi fired again, and then watched ArsenalMan blast it with a shot from his wrist.

"Tank Buster!" He yelled, firing again. The enemy Navi summoned a guard, and blocked the shot. Gospel saw his chance as the guard disappeared, and fired the Vulcan. The pellets zinged into the target.

Arthur had another chip ready. "Alright... Areasteal in!"

Gospel glitched out for a second, disappearing in a burst of static. ArsenalMan took the distraction this provided and gave the opposing Navi a taste of his gatling guns. Gospel glitched back into place exactly where he had been, and collapsed. He quickly got to his feet, and jumped for the Navi that was still pinned by ArsenalMan's fire. He closed the gap, ducked down and lunged, driving his claws into the Navi. Both of them glitched up for a second, and suddenly the enemy Navi staggered back, arms locking up and fuzzing at the edges.

ArsenalMan finished the job with a last shot. "Target logged out by force." He glanced to the side. MathMan's foe was nowhere to be seen. ChillMan was on the ground, PlugMan's boot on his face.

PlugMan looked at ChillMan, his lazy persona gone. "Remember how we bailed you out? Great way to return the favor, buddy."

"The Hards won't stand for this! Even if you're my cousin!" Said ChillMan.

"Bring it." Said PlugMan, releasing his boot. ChillMan logged out.

* * *

Three hours later, two lessons were missed due to the police tracking down three grown men, and Denny had gone to the station to testify against two of them. Arthur and Joe faced each other over the school netbattle machine. They nodded to each other.

"MathMan, resolve combat."

"Gospel, destroy!"

The two appeared in a circular room. MathMan's blade appeared. Gospel made the first move, lunging without restraint. Before either operator could send chips, they were in a deadly melee dance, Gospel's reckless swipes forcing MathMan to play defensively.

Joe slotted in a chip with a click. "Airshot chip in!" In one fluid motion, MathMan brought up a buster with a grille at the end, and blew Gospel back. Before Gospel could resume his assault, MathMan made a lunging cut forwards, catching him across the cheek.

"Spreader in!" Shouted Arthur. The gun replaced Gospel's hand. Gospel aimed, and fired way off target, causing the shot to impact the wall harmlessly. MathMan jumped in again, bringing his blade in a downwards arc. Gospel backpedaled, and then managed to get a good swipe of his claws in across MathMan's sword arm.

"Geddon chip in! Back off and keep him away." Shouted Joe. Arthur looked up in panic at the unknown name. Cracks spread across the floor, but then to his surprise, MathMan stepped forwards, trapping himself in a makeshift arena with Gospel. "MathMan?" Said Joe.

Gospel swiped again with his claws, and MathMan parried while speaking "...My systems seem to have bugged. There's something about this Navi- hah!" He swung his sword in a wide arc, scoring a glancing blow across one of the frills of Gospel's head. Gospel delivered an uppercut, dragging his claws across MathMan's front. They left shallow gashes, but both operators saw MathMan's model start to pixelate around the cuts.

"Guard chip, in!" Said Joe.

"Gospel, don't-!"

Gospel socked the yellow shield at full force, sending a wave of energy straight into his feet and knocking him backwards. He hit the floor with a bump, and logged out.

Joe's PET beeped. Joe looked up and said "Hey, I got your Navi chip on the first try! MathMan, how do you feel?"

"Unwell... Arthur... your Navi's touch... it's like poison."

Joe frowned. "I'll debug you now."

Arthur looked at Gospel. He was still running, at extremely low health. The HP restored itself quickly. "Are you alright?"

"Nearly destroyed them. Could be worse. :)"

"I... didn't realise you were going to be so effective against Navis. Most people don't get so far against MathMan..."

"I'm good at destroying them! But what does Joe mean, he has my Navi Chip? ',:l" Asked Gospel.

Joe stepped in to explain. "When two custom Navis fight, the PETs they are linked to will automatically record combat data of the opponent. If an opponent is weakened enough to decipher their basic combat routine, the PET makes a copy and saves it to a chip. Using it will summon a copy to execute that routine. Look, here's yours. Gospel T." Joe held up the chip. It showed Gospel mid-swipe, with a new background added.

"T? ',:l"

"Every chip has a code letter. It matters to NetOps with regards to what they can put in at the same time. Honestly, you're so lucky to have a T code. It's a letter shared by loads of good chips."

* * *

Arthur made it up to his room after school, and threw off his bag. "So, how are you feeling about that battle earlier?"

"I want to try again! It feels so natural to me. :)"

"Well, there's always tomorrow. I can't believe he got your Navi chip on his first try..."

"Do you think we could get his? ;)"

"Probably, if I get better." Arthur looked away from the screen. He grimaced. "You're... way better at this than me. Am I even worthy to operate you?"

"Nobody else would! And you are letting me stay in your PET. It's so comfortable in here. :)"

"Really? PETs can be comfortable?"

"It's better than my last home. :l"

"That does remind me... Just where did you come from? One thing my Navi is getting deleted, the next I have you in my PET" Asked Arthur.

"..."

"Do you even know?"

"No." Gospel lied.

"Well. Nevermind then. I still need to make a Navi mark for you..."

"Wait. I do know. But I don't know for sure. The memory is corrupted."

"Oh. Is... there anything you do remember?"

Gospel remembered MegaMan. He remembered towering over the Navi, but being blasted down by sheer firepower. "I remember a Navi. They deleted me."

"Well. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm always willing to listen. Want to go on the net and bust some viruses?"

"Let's destroy them! :D"

* * *

Gospel ran along the corridors of VillageArea, looking for viruses. Arthur watched, allowing his Navi to pick his own path. Arthur's PET beeped. He expected a conversation with Gospel, but instead found an Email from Denny.

"To: Arthur, William, Joe.

Subject: I need help

My cousin's gang is out for blood after we stopped them robbing the canteen. I'm not letting them off the hook this time, but I can't take them on alone. If interested in taking on the four remaining Navis, come to mine in twenty minutes. Make sure you have your HP full."

The first reply came in from Joe. "On my way. Want me to contact NetPolice?"

"Already done. They'll be at mine in half an hour."

Then William's reply "I'm a long way from you now, at sport club. Can't make it. But you can borrow this chip."

Arthur tapped out his reply. "I'm coming."

"Ok thanks for the Lance. Arthur, do you need to borrow anything from me for this?" Came the group reply.

Arthur spoke to Gospel "We need to get to Denny's place, for a fight. Are there any chips you want me to borrow?"

"That one MathMan used. :D"

Arthur went back to the email, while trying to guide Gospel towards Denny's house. "He wants a guard chip. We haven't managed to get one off the mettaurs yet."

"Haha okay. Be quick, the Hards are only tough in name and I know your Navi is a bloodthirsty lil guy." Attatched to the reply was a Guard *.

Gospel ran for about three minutes before reaching Denny's server. PlugMan was already waiting. The elec Navi smiled lazily. "You know... I normally get to keep up a great disguise of stupidity for years when I meet someone. Had to blow it for you in a day. You get the chip?"

Gospel nodded eagerly.

"'Aight, good. MathMan'll be here in a minute, then the gang that tried to threated me my deletion was coming in twenty minutes, with all four of their active members."

Arthur looked at the two of them. He noticed something about Gospel. "Hey, Gospel... why doesn't your tail ever move? I would have expected it to wag."

"I have a tail? :l" Gospel looked behind himself. "I have a tail! :D. I can't feel it. It must be bugged."

"Oh well. I'll fix it whenever you let me back into your code. You really do have so many bugs..."

MathMan burst into the server, blade out. "Not late then, I see. Or wholeheartedly too late."

PlugMan shook his head. "They'll be here in two. You prepared?"

"Of course. Gospel, what about you?"

Gospel looked up. "I'm ready to destroy some Navis. Hey, Arthur, send me some chips. :)"

PlugMan raised a finger. "No deleting. Just log them out."

"Aw. :("

Arthur shuffled through his small library. "Okay, I'm going to put in the combo I've been planning for a while. Hopefully this won't glitch you up. Vulcan1, but three times..."

Gospel blinked out of existence for a second, and reappeared a little to the left. "I can't feel my legs. :/"

"Um. Right, then... just try not to fall over when you run that program." Said Arthur.

Further conversation was interrupted as four generic bruiser Navis ran through the server's entrance.

"Gospel, destroy!" Gospel jumped, and cast InfiniteVulcan1. A stream of bullets knocked the forwardmost Navi clean off its feet, and the gun kept firing into the bunched-up three. They were forced to scatter, as the vulcan eventually ground to a halt. Gospel wasted no time in lunging for the nearest one, and it lacked the close quarters skill of MathMan. His claws exposed the raw data of the Navi in one strike, forcing it to log out immediately. Of the remaining three, MathMan neatly divided one in half, and PlugMan lashed another with an electrified wire. They also logged out.

The hit-and-run in shambles, the last Navi dropped the Viruses it had been carrying and fled. A bamboo lance grew from the floor and pierced its leg, logging it out. Gospel pounced for the three weak viruses, two spikeys and a blowfish. They didn't bug out upon contact with him, but Arthur sent Gospel the cannon from the BasicFolder along with a spreader, and that cleared out the enemies. One dropped a bugfrag.

"Hey, a BugFrag! Nice find." Said PlugMan.

Gospel picked up the chunk of inert viral data. "Mm. :D" He put it in his mouth and crunched.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Said Arthur. Gospel glanced up at the NetOp.

Despite having no voice, Gospel still moved their mouth a little and had altered speech with a mouthful of bug. "Itsh delishious. :)"

"It's a bugfrag! That has got to be poisonous to Navis..."

"Eye'm poishionous to Navis." pointed out Gospel. It swallowed.

There was a short ditty from the PET. 'HP increased!'

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Oh. It just raised your max health, by like... five points?"

"See? Delicious! :D" Said Gospel.

MathMan shrugged. "You know, at this point I think you're not a normal Navi, and I've known you for all of twelve hours. Are you trying to hide your weird side, or..?"

Gospel shook its head. "Why would I? I'm just a bit more glitchy that the rest of you. Hey. Can I try and destroy you again? I think this time Arthur is more prepared."

"Joe? Would you mind? Okay. I'll humor you. Don't expect a free win!" Said MathMan, dropping into a combat stance.

Arthur stuttered "Don't I get a say in this... Actually, nevermind. Gospel, destroy!"

Gospel dashed to the side, trying to close the gap as fast as he could. Coming into melee range, Arthur came through with his new weapons. "Alright, Guard and Sword chips in!"

Gospel's claws were replaced by a shining blue crystal sword, with considerably more power. It clashed against MathMan's blade, locking the two Navis in place. Gospel twisted the blade, and dashed past MathMan, feeling his sword graze his back while Gospel's own blade clipped his foe's side. It dissolved as the timer ran out.

MathMan raised his hand, and Gospel realised he was using Airshot. A yellow metallic shield appeared in front of him, deflecting the blast back to MathMan. The Navi dodged, and replaced his sword with one Gospel hadn't seen before. MathMan swung the WideSword confidently, forcing Gospel back.

"I need a chip!" He texted frantically.

"R-Right!" Said Arthur. He needed to catch MathMan off guard... all he had that wasn't from the basic folder was the other chip Denny had given him: ZapRing1. It had an awkward letter code, too. Still, he slotted it in. "Here! Hopefully It'll give you the opening you need."

Gospel held the data uncertainly. MathMan's WideSword dissolved, and he fired. The ring hit him squarely in the chest, and Gospel ran forward, hitting as hard as he could. MathMan stumbled back, and Gospel brought his claws down for a finishing blow, only for them to bounce off Guard. Not defeated by the recoil this time, Gospel got to his feet, and blocked the incoming blade. More chips arrived. Minibomb. Gospel ordered it to appear immediately, the small blue orb appearing to the right of has empty hand and falling to the ground with a bang. Staggered by the blast, Gospel was helpless as MathMan blasted him with a cannon. The combat concluded.

Gospel stood up shakily. "Still not enough... :("

MathMan inspected the rapidly worsening wounds he'd sustained. "Much improved, though. Keep training. Oh, and grind for some better chips. Joe, log me out." MathMan disappeared.

PlugMan floated over to Gospel. "Took that one like a champ. Guess that's good enough."

":("

"Upset you couldn't beat him second time around?" Asked PlugMan.

"Yeah, me too." Said Arthur.

PlugMan shrugged "Well, you're decent at fighting, at least. Something Joe didn't tell you to do: go get BugFrags. More health will make everything easier. Bye now." PlugMan logged out.

Gospel was left alone. ":("

"We'll beat him. Come on. You can go and destroy viruses until you don't feel so sore over it." Offered Arthur.

"... :)"

 **Author's notes: So, the introductory scenario, with the main group of allied Navis for the story. Tell me your favorite! And also Gospel's abilities have started to emerge, although they won't grow in the traditional sense. Quick notes on each Navi's strength level.**

 **ArsenalMan: Has powerful ranged attacks, but can't escape easily and no proficiency with swords. Still, has military disipline. Weak to mobile melee fighters (Gospel)**

 **PlugMan: An overall balanced Navi, lacking in weaknesses and adaptable to many situations. Somewhat limited, yet consistent damage output. Weak to foes with good defences (MathMan).**

 **MathMan: A powerful, calculating (literally) swordsman. Good HP and attack power, and a calm mind. Weak to powerful ranged attacks (ArsenalMan).**

 **Gospel: A quick melee Navi with the ability to cause errors, and dodge attacks nimbly. Weak to accurate attacks (PlugMan).**

 **Reviewer responses!**

 **GalacticBun: Thanks! I always wanted to try and write a story about one of the Battle Network final bosses becoming a Navi, and since Gospel fuses with Bass I thought he was the best choice. The emoticons are Gospel trying to give his messages more emotion without the ability to speak, and also dogs tend to be very positive in general, so emoticons seemed fitting.**

 **A Fan: That's... not an entirely inaccurate description. You are very correct about his coding. He's got the kind of nightmarish mess that makes technicians just quit on the spot.**


	3. Chapter 3: Upcoming

Arthur woke up to the roar sound. He blearily rubbed his eyes, and rolled over to look at the PET.

"We just got an email. :)"

"Open it." Said Arthur, sitting up.

'Local NetBattle tournament begins in seven days! Register at your town chip shop, and bring your best in a competition for a promotional Sanctuary mega chip! The two finalists will also win entries to the National Netbattle tournament, and the prizes don't stop there! Find out more at your local chip shop. Note: participants must be 16 or over, and legal residents of their country.'

Arthur shook himself awake "Hey, that sounds pretty good! Let's enter! I'm not sure what the Sanctuary chip does, but I'm going to try and get it!"

"Count me in! :D"

Arthur rolled out of bed and changed into his school clothes. "How long do I have until I need to be at school?"

"Eleven minutes. :l"

"I'm going to be late." Swallowed Arthur.

* * *

"So, are you guys going to sign up for the tournament?" Asked Arthur, to William and Joe. Denny was dozing.

Joe nodded "Yeah, Sanctuary is a really rare chip. Almost nowhere sells it."

"Plus I checked, there are actually smaller rewards for making it to the local quarter finals, since so many people are expected to join. Have you signed up yet?" Said William.

"I didn't have time when I woke up. How many spaces are there?" Said Arthur.

"Two hundred and fifty six. About fifty were filled when I got there before school, but they're expected to fill up pretty much instantly, since the school has about five hundred netbattlers." Said Joe.

"...Maybe I should skip class to go register." Murmured Arthur.

"Don't. Just send your Navi to go and sign up while you're here." Offered Joe.

Arthur nodded. "Okay. Gospel, do you know the way from the school servers to the chip shop?"

"Leave it to me! :)"

"Alright, run for it. If you have any problems, ping me." Said Arthur. Gospel ran off.

"So, Denny?" probed William.

Denny opened one eye "Yeah?"

"Did the police catch those guys?"

Denny chuckled. "I watched them get thrown into a cell personally, screaming bloody murder directly into the recording cameras. It's great dealing with imcompetent enemies. Oh, and they were found in possession of illegally produced chips with intent to sell, and one of them was also wanted for stealing a car."

"Absolutely busted." Grinned William.

Arthur raised a finger. "Illegal chips?"

"Dark chips. You've heard of them, haven't you?" Said Denny.

"Ohh, I remember. Aren't they really rare after the officials caught the makers? Don't you need, like, a license to have them?"

"Yeah. Apparently my cousin found a crate, and was going to pawn them off to unsuspecting people. Heartless."

"I'm back. :)" Pinged Gospel.

"Oh, that was fast. Are we signed up?" Said Arthur.

"Yes. Entry number 125, Arthur Penn and Gospel. oh, and I grabbed a copy of the rules. Apparently the later rounds have a few twists. :)"

Arthur skimmed the text document. "The quarter finals are two-versus-two battles?"

"Yes. I've memorised all the special rounds, round 3 will have a battleground themed to the participating Navis, the quarterfinals are two versus two, and the finals will take place on entirely holypanels. Because the reward is Sanctuary." Said Joe.

* * *

After school, all four of them went down to the chipshop. William insisted Arthur come.

"As it is right now, the tournament's a week today. We need to get you ready, since everyone else has had months to get their hands on useful chips." Explained William. "Also, you need to raise Gospel's health up to the rest of our levels. So we need to buy either HP up for your NaviCust, or HP memories."

"But for now, we'll help you pick out some chips." Said Joe. "New stock arrives today, and with a tournament coming up..."

Denny yawned, looking at the mass of students nearby. "I'm going to go get an icecream. You guys can wait for the new stock to arrive."

Arthur glanced at the other students that had gone straight to the chip shop. "Hey... maybe we should try and plan specifically for our opponents. Gospel, who are we fighting in the first round?"

"Contestant 126, PlateMan and Cory Smith. I don't know them, they're in the year above us. :l" replied Gospel.

William tapped Arthur's shoulder for attention. "I think the stock's here! Come on, no time to waste!" He whispered, trying not to tip off the rest of the room.

They ran for the counter, as the ripple of realisation spread through the room. A dishevelled employee placed a 'Max one of each chip per sale due to high demand' sign on the counter. Arthur followed William closely, as the stronger boy zoomed over to the counter at lightning speed.

"Show me what you got!" Shouted William to the employee. They hefted up a display poster with all the recent orders. William and twenty others craned to read it, and then the cry went up.

"THEY HAVE A GIGA CHIP FOR SALE!" Shouted at least three different people.

William was close enough to read the price. It clocked in at a hefty seventy five thousand Zenny. Two were in stock. He turned to Arthur and said "It's NaviRecycle. Don't bother, it's only good if you have a powerful Navi chip and a damage boost chip." And then shouted to the employee "I'LL TAKE AN M-CANNON AND A BUBBLE WRAP!" The employee handed over the chips, charged him and William moved aside.

There was an outcry as a few metres to Arthur's left, a girl bought the first NaviRecycle. Arthur found himself at the desk. He looked over the chip chart, and realised he still had no idea what most of them were. "I'll..." He cleared his throat, and decided to just get one that looked cool. "I WANT A VARIABLE SWORD, AND... A CROSSBOMB!" The employee rang up the order, and pulled the chips out of the just-delivered crate, handing them to Arthur. Arthur wrestled his way out of the crowd, and moved to the far end of the shop. William was waiting with Denny.

"What did you choose?" Asked William.

Arthur showed him the chips, each still in a an individual plastic jacket. "I'm not sure what each one does. But they looked cool."

"Variable sword is pretty great, but it's hard to use. Basically a dozen different blades in one as long as you know the commands. Crossbomb is... kind of underwhelming, but far from the worst chip on the list. Hey, here comes Joe."

Joe came over with a fistful of chips. "Rest in peace, my pocket money." Now he was closer, Arthur could see he had about seven chips in his hand. "I made out like a bandit there. Oh, and also Arthur, I just had to get this for you." He held out a chip.

Arthur took the small item. "Bug Bomb. Well, thanks! What did you get for yourself?"

"I got..." Joe flipped through the stack of chips. "Prism K, FireSword F, Symphony T, Two Spreaders, and Super Vulcan V. I'm so ready for this tournament."

"You got Prism?! Where was that on the list?! I've been looking for one for ages, it's a perfect fit for ArsenalMan." Said William.

"It was about halfway down, on the left. They ordered thirty of them, there'll probably be some left when the rush ends." Said Joe.

Denny sauntered back in. "Sup. Looks like I missed it."

William smiled when he came over. "I owe you for that one."

"Huh? For what?" Asked Arthur.

"Well, how do you think I knew the exact moment the shipment would arrive?" Said William.

Arthur sat up, and realised Denny had a distinct lack of ice cream. "OH. That's clever. He was a lookout?"

Denny nodded. "I have all my cousin's chips, so I don't need these."

Arthur's PET beeped. "Gospel? Something up?" Said Arthur.

"I want to fight ArsenalMan! Since he's here now. :)"

Arthur looked to William. "Are you up for a netbattle?"

"Sure thing. Bring it on, ArsenalMan will blast you away."

* * *

Gospel loaded into the battle machine. ArsenalMan appeared across from him.

"ArsenalMan, to war!"

"Gospel, destroy!"

ArsenalMan opened fire, gatling guns blazing and tank cannons firing intermittently. Gospel dashed to the side, and texted "Need to close gap!" He moved an arm to halt a few pellets that would have hit him in the face otherwise.

"Alright, AreaSteal, and Sword, in!"

"Bubble Wrap, in."

Gospel phased out of existence, reappearing next to ArsenalMan. A layer of water veiled the military Navi. Gospel slashed, and the veil popped, but it was enough time for ArsenalMan to shoot at him. Gospel's armor held. Gospel formed the sword, and cut cleanly across ArsenalMan's chest.

"Sending chips now- get yourself away from the target. Airshoes in!" said William.

ArsenalMan jumped up into the air, the veil regenerating. Gospel looked up and ducked as he resumed bombardment.

"Gospel, I'm sending the new chips. Variable Sword, in!"

A new interface opened on the PET for the VariableSword. Arthur looked at it and frowned. 'enter command' it asked.

Joe leaned over his shoulder "Use the direction keys to put in a code. Left, Down, Right!"

"Left..."

Gospel skirted around a missile blast, struggling to stay close to ArsenalMan's boosted mobility.

"Down... Right." 'Command recieved: Fightersword'

The VariableSword formed on Gospel's arm. He lunged, and swung it. He thought he'd missed, and the reach was too little, but the sword made a strange golden arc that nearly tripled the reach, and cut another gash across ArsenalMan's armor.

"No other choice. ArsenalMan, we need to end it now, we can't beat his speed. M-Cannon, in!"

The heavy red gun formed on ArsenalMan's hand. He aimed it directly at Gospel, reading their HP. 115 to the cannon's 120 damage. "Target in range... this will log them out!"

Gospel realised the Navi was recieving chips as he tried to read ArsenalMan's health. 40. "I need a cannon!" he texted.

Arthur had already been scrambling for one. "Cannon, IN!"

The two Navis raised their weapons in quick timing. Gospel stuttered as the gun loaded. He blinked out of reality for a moment, causing the M-cannon to miss completely, and reappeared with his basic cannon ready. "Destroy!" The shot impacted ArsenalMan's bubble, but Gospel was already moving forawds, and dragged their claws over ArsenalMan's stomach.

'ArsenalMan, logged out. Data successfully recorded!'

"I did it! :D" Gospel's mouth opened.

Arthur jumped in excitement. "We got the ArsenalMan chip too! Well done!"

":D"

"Okay, for now Gospel, back." Arthur sighed happily, and looked up at William. "You scared me to death with that M-cannon. I see why they're so expensive."

"Ha, it's yet to pay itself off. Should be pretty handy for the tournament though!"

* * *

Later, Gospel was exploring the net. "Hey, can I go to the old undernet? :)"

"Wha- no. It's too dangerous there. We just need to find a good source of BugFrags to brind your HP up for the tournement.

Grinding out BugFrags had turned out to be difficult, and tedious, as much as Gospel enjoyed eating them. "But I remember some things about it... I think I know where I can find some secret areas!"

"Arthur! Dinner is ready!" Called Arthur's mother from downstairs.

"Want me to log you out before I go? I'll be a few minutes." Said Arthur.

"No. :)"

"Okay, just stay in the village area. Log out if you take damage." Arthur dashed downstairs, to the waiting meal.

About halfway through, Arthur's father looked up from his spaghetti and said "So, what were you making on my computer the other day?"

Arthur's heart skipped a beat, and he paled. He realised at that exact moment that with all the drama of recieving Gospel, he'd _forgotten to tell his parents anything._ "I... ah.. can explain everything" The fact his old Navi was gone. The fact he'd run a potentially dangerous program on his father's machine without asking. The fact that -oh sweet mercy, the huge useless file was still saved there. What if the machine was bugged out?! Arthur panicked internally.

"Are you okay, dear?" Asked Ms. Penn.

Unable to work out exactly what not to say, he just resorted to his usual pressure response, a mental 'screw it'. He choked down a completely inedible mouthful of perfect spaghetti. "IAccidentallyGotMyOldNaviDeletedAndHeTurnedIntoACustomNaviFullOfBugs" He blurted.

His father leaned back in confusion. "I was talking about you using all my printer ink. What's this about a custom Navi?"

"Oh, the ink was me dear. But yes, tell us everything!" Said Ms. Penn.

Arthur looked around. "Right... so... well, I was busting in the old undernet because you can earn Zenny faster there. But I almost instantly ran into a powerful virus. It would have deleted my Navi in one shot, but the undershirt activated. I tried to run, but... it was faster. It chased us down to a dead end, and... deleted them. My PET went black for a while, and I disconnected it, but then it started acting weird. I found there was a REALLY glitched-up program on there, and it was too big to run on my PET. I tried moving it to my computer to run a bugfix, but that didn't work because it was still too big, so... I asked to use yours. I was able to get the worst bugs out, and I had a working, custom Navi that registered to me!"

"That's great, son! I mean, I can't praise you for gambling with my computer, but... I'm glad you have a Custom Navi! You say they have some bugs, right?" Asked Mr. Penn.

"Yeah. Do you want me to go get them? I can't believe I forgot to introduce you..." Said Arthur, panic fading.

"Of course. Anyway, I know a good man who works at Scilab international, and he'd be happy to fix up your Navi for you. My treat. I'll even pay for the train tickets."

"Okay, I'll go get them! Oh, they look kind of intimidating, so... don't get scared!" called Arthur, running up the stairs. He burst into his room, and went over to the computer. "Gospel, back! You're going to meet my parents, so come on!"

"Who? Are they the ones who make you all that food? :l" texted Gospel.

"They're excited to meet you!" Arthur neglected to explain further, and ran back down the stairs. He sat back down at the table, turning the PET to face his parents. "Meet Gospel, my Navi." He heard the familiar beep of Gospel texting.

"You're a quiet one. I'm Jane." Said Ms. Penn.

"I'm Micheal. So, you're my son's Navi? I hope you two'll get along." Said Mr. Penn. "So, has Arthur told you about my offer for your bugs?"

Arthur placed the PET on the table so everyone could just about see the screen. "Um, before you tell him... I should say that he likes most of his bugs."

"Hm. Gospel, would you like it if we had Scilabs fix some of the more debilitating bugs in your code?"

"... ;L"

Arthur looked at Gospel. Gospel looked back awkwardly. "Come on, at the very least we want to fix the one that makes bomb chips appear outside your hand."

"... :l"

"I'll have them fix your tail."

"...fine. But make sure they don't mess with anything I don't want them to! ;("

* * *

 **Elsewhere**

"Are you perfectly sure?" Said an older man, to the Navi on screen.

"I'm simply relaying what I've found. There is some evidence that a Cybeast has stirred."

"...This is not good... MegaMan still has possession of one, and I presumed the other would have been destroyed when he defeated Bass. We'll have to plan an expedition to the graveyard of all places now, too."

"Actually... the signature resembled Gregar more than Falzar. Yet MegaMan still has Gregar, at least to a degree."

"A third beast has emerged?"

"We can't say for sure. For what it's worth, the signature seemed to indicate it's weaker than either of those two. And it appeared in an area far removed from the initial incidents, not the graveyard."

The old man was silent for a while "Tell ProtoMan and Chaud. They'll make sure everything stays clear so I can continue to work on you."

"Of course, Wily."

 **Author's notes: Chips in this story may not be exactly the same as the games. The main example is chips that alter terrain, like AreaSteal and GrabRevenge, and that interact with your folder, like FullCust and FolderBack. I have ideas for what the new functions of some will be, but if anyone wants to suggest the altered function of a chip, I'm all ears. Also, even high-grade chips will be available early, but they're very expensive, and when a chip is rare, it's actually damn rare. I'm talking 'sift through the deepest, most dangerous corners of the undernet for weeks and maybe you'll find ONE' rare.**

 **Update: fixed some spelling errors, added a response to the chapter 2 reviews. I think I forgot to save when I made my final draft.**

 **Review answer**

 **JaneValentine007: Ah, glad you spotted it. In the future I think I'll make it clearer when advances are being used. I've beaten 1 and 2, my 3 broke after beating Plantman but I watched a let's play, as well as 4, I've 100% beaten 5, and I made it to 6's endgame and lost the cartridge. More chapters are on the way!**

-Deleted Scene-

The PET pinged. Gospel looked at Arthur. "Hey! I was looking through the Choinese alphabet, and look what I found! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

"Gospel, what on earth is that face?!"

"( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

"What emotion is that for?"

"I'm not sure! But you must know ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

"It's kind of creepy..."

"( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"


	4. Chapter 4: Lab

The train made a slight 'clack' every ten seconds. While not a magnetic train, this electric model was among the fastest to visit the local station. Father, Son and Navi rode together, watching the scenery change.

"Hey, dad... Who is the person you know at SciLabs? You were able to get us an appointment almost instantly." Said Arthur.

"He's the accountant who makes all the bookings for non-staff who want to visit. I think we jumped past a few people in the waiting list. How's your Navi doing? Any doubts?" Said Mr. Penn.

Arthur took Gospel out of his pocket. The Navi was looking down, to the side. "I'm a bit scared. But they are trained to do this... ;L"

"It'll be alright. I'll make sure you come out of it with all the bits you like. And seriously, how can you be scared? You have glowing red eyes. You should be doing the scaring."

"Fear doesn't seem like a very useful combat skill. :l"

Mr. Penn looked at Gospel "Fear is a VERY useful skill when applied correctly. I'm only a barkeep, but trust me when I say that when fights happen, if one man is scared beyond focus and the other can make a plan, then the battle's as good as won. Not that I'm encouraging you."

Arthur slipped a hand into his pocket, feeling the USB drive. It was the largest one in the house, and it was just large enough to hold the code he'd taken out of Gospel. His reasoning for bringing it was logically sound: if you take a large chunk out of something then that'll probably cause problems. But still, something about the data made him feel... irresponsible. "It's a long way to the lab, isn't it?" He said, hoping to get his mind off it.

His father nodded."It's a very central location in this country, but we're near the country's edge. Still, we'll be there in ten minutes."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the two (or three, if you didn't need a physical body) were standing in front of SciLabs. Arthur had to cover his eyes from the glaring sunlight that reflected off the building. "I really like the design here... But couldn't they have used less reflective glass?" Said Arthur.

His father shook his head. "No, I remember they're very proud of these new windows. The reflectivity changes based on how strong the sunlight is, so the inside of the building always has a consistent level of natural light, and hardly ever gets too hot or cold. Now, let's get in before we miss our appointment."

"Right."

They walked in, and as promised the temperature was comfortably cool, impressive for a hot day. The secretary at the welcome desk looked up. "Micheal. Good morning. Doctor Oboro is waiting in lab four, it's down the corridor in front of you."

"Thank you Ma'am." Said Mr. Penn. "Come on Arthur."

They walked along a corridor until they came to a door with a small plaque labelling it as lab four. Arthur tentatively knocked. "Come in!" came a woman's voice. They did.

Doctor Oboro was a woman in her apparent thirties had clearly dyed her hair, but the shade of deep blue didn't actually stand out all that much. If anything, it somehow came off as professional. She adjusted a pair of thin-lensed glasses and smiled. "So, the Penn family?"

"Y-yes." Said Arthur. He cleared his throat. "Yes. And my Navi."

"Excellent. So, if you'll show me your Navi, I'll just give you a quick preliminary..." Oboro said.

Arthur took out Gospel and passed them to Oboro. Oboro looked at him, and while she clearly attempted to conceal her emotions, Arthur did notice the tiniest hint of sweat on her brow.

"Hmm. I've... never seen a Navi like this before." Said Oboro. "Well, let's get him jacked in. Lan, open the Navi alteration program please?"

 _Lan? Like, Lan the worldwide celebrity? Lan the one who stopped attacks on global peace... four or five times?_ Arthur glanced around the room. Sure enough, there was a boy in an iconic blue headband. Arthur suddenly felt very, very small. He opened his mouth to speak, and no words came out.

Lan jogged over to the computer. "Sure thing!" He pulled out a chair and flicked open a file. "Gospel? Uh... that's a pretty odd choice of name."

"Huh? Why?" Said Arthur, as he watched the Navi move into the computer.

"What do you mean why?!" Said Lan, turning to look at Arthur.

Arthur was mortified that his first interaction with the celebrity seemed to be going badly.

"Lan, I don't think he knows. He's from an area far away from the city... And we shut them down pretty fast." Said a second voice from his pocket. _MegaMan. I'm getting defended by MegaMan._

"I don't. What's wrong with Gospel? He picked the name himself." Said Arthur.

Lan looked at him with a deadpan face. "You... heard absolutely nothing on the news about them?"

"I hardly watch it. I heard you took down the cybeasts though! And Nebula!" Said Arthur desperately.

"Okay... well, they were a terrorist organisation. They were planning to take over the net with- um, wait, I can't tell you what. Chaud would blow up on me." Lan said, catching himself. "But quite a lot of people got hurt. I wouldn't take a Navi called Gospel around the city servers."

Arthur stood rooted to the spot. "I-" Pure terror consumed him, and no more words came out.

Lan shrugged. "Don't worry. Just pick a different name."

MegaMan chimed in. "Who made your Navi? They might have done the same thing to other people."

"Um... I'm not sure how to answer that question." Said Arthur, shaking off his self-imposed terror. "They just sort of appeared."

"Okay... do you know anything about their history then?" Said MegaMan.

"Not really, no. He just kind of clams up when I ask him, so I assume he doesn't want to talk about it." Said Arthur, confidence building slowly.

Doctor Oboro looked at the screen. "Well, let's not be silly here. The Navi is right in front of us. If you don't mind telling... who made you?"

Gospel brang the window for the Navi alteration in front of himself, before Lan could see him. "..."

"Please. It could save someone a tangle with the NetPolice." Said Oboro.

"...What is the fastest way to leave this network?" Texted Gospel.

The missing emoticon concerned Arthur far more than he expected. "This isn't like you. Why are you so afraid to say? Nothing bad will happen. I won't let it."

Lan hovered the mouse over the window and clicked minimize. It stayed open. "And you don't want me to see what you look like? I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Lan, they're scared out of their mind. Maybe we should let them calm down?" Said MegaMan.

"Okay. But can you calm down quickly? I want to try and fix you before dad gets back. He's going to be really impressed if I can." Said Lan.

"Arthur, are you absolutely sure he won't do anything?" Texted Gospel.

Arthur glanced around the room. His PET was discarded on the side, empty but charged and turned on. It was within arm's reach. And the port for the computer was wireless, and nearby... With the element of surprise, he could probably grab it, get Gospel out and then run like hell... the windows in the corridor were open, and if he went down the overhang he could hopefully get to the city and hide until he could contact his father... Would his father be allowed to leave? Probably. He wasn't involved, right? "...Yes. I am as sure as possible that he won't hurt you."

The window minimized. Gosped stared Lan in the eyes, his body unhidden. "Sean Obihiro."

It was Lan's turn to fail to find words. "Sean?! But... he gave himself up? And you look so much like..." He swallowed, and looked at Arthur. "Okay, can your dad and Doctor Oboro leave the room? Chaud would kill me if I told anyone I didn't have to."

Oboro tapped Mr. Penn. "Come on. This must be serious."

"...Are you going to arrest my son?" Asked Mr. Penn carefully.

Lan shook his head. "No. I'm going to tell him some secret information. You know, officially secret. No telling without clearance."

The two adults left the room.

"So Gospel... Are you actually THAT Gospel? The one I fought? Is that why you were so scared of me?" Said Lan.

Gospel nodded.

Lan turned back to Arthur. "I won't go into detail, but long story short... Your Navi was a weapon created to destroy the net, that malfunctioned and became a slightly weaker version of a Cybeast, a Super Multi-Bug Organism. I deleted it with MegaMan, and we assumed it was totally destroyed, but then we found a... certain Navi with a very large portion of its code, and we'd accidentally helped it rebuild. It was fused with Ba- the Navi until we defeated them, the Navi escaped on the brink of deletion and we assumed the SMBG was gone for good... but apparently you have it here... and it's friendlier than expected. The one we fought was really bloodthirsty. So, tell me in detail how you found them. Don't leave even the tiniest bit out."

Arthur recounted as much as he could. Lan brought out his PET. "MegaMan, what do you think?"

"I think it's possible he was combined by the leftover data from the copy system. It would explain how it merged with the basic Navi so easily. And Arthur, you mentioned it had a really large file that didn't seem to do anything?"

"Um, yeah. I have it here, actually." Arthur fished the USB out of his pocket.

Lan and MegaMan looked at each other. For a moment, Arthur could have sworn they looked almost identical...

Lan spoke. "I don't think we're going to be able to fix all these bugs in time for dad getting back. Are you still going to let me fix you? Arthur, give me that memory stick too, I might be able to do something with the code inside!"

Gospel looked panicked.

MegaMan spoke up. "Hey, I'd trust him with my code, and I'm not exactly a simple piece of software."

"But what if you delete me? You were supposed to when you first met me..." Texted Gospel.

"Uhh... If I wanted to delete you, I'd use MegaMan. It would be a lot faster and easier." Said Lan.

"...okay." texted Gospel.

Lan nodded, and opened the Navi alteration program. "Jeez, now that is some bugged-up code. I guess now I should explain how this kind of Navi works, so you know I know what I'm doing. Gospel was made by Bug Fusion, a process where bugfrags are fed to a core program that breaks down and redistributes the data as instructed. It can be used to generate complex coding easily, so you can make powerful Navis. But when the process is overloaded, like it was for you, then it'll just run wild and randomly replace key data assets with the excess data. Leading to you. So, I'll go through and fix everything I can, but technically speaking... You're not actually a Navi. You're a very advanced virus, advanced to the point that you're functionally a Navi. That matters because it means a lot of normal bugfixes would probably break large sections of your coding. Hm... I'm not as good at programming viruses, but I know the theory. Hey, while I go through and find all the sections of code that I'll have to work on, why don't you two try and think of a new name for Gospel?" Lan turned his attention to the screen.

"What kind of name could I give you...?" Said Arthur. "I can't just go with a dog name, that would be dumb..."

"Destroyer? :)"

"No, we're trying not to scare people unless we have to."

MegaMan piped up. "What's your chip code? A lot of people like them to match the first letter of a Navi's name."

"T. :l"

"T..." mused Arthur. "Turbo? Twister? Twitch...?" he trailed off, and the room was silent for a few minutes apart from the sound of Lan typing notes into a text document.

MegaMan suddenly smiled "Hey, I know the absolutely perfect name! Especially since you've been in contact with Bass- Uh... forget I told you that guy's name. What about 'Treble'?"

"Treble? I'm not sure... What do you think?" Said Arthur.

"I love it! :D" Said the semi-virus.

"Haha... I guess you're Treble now. I gotta say, there's more to you than meets the eye." Said Arthur.

Lan plugged the USB in and opened the second file. He was silent for a minute, with a face that was the purest definition of 'what'. "Okay." He said eventually. "MegaMan, can you page someone to get me the big blue box from my locker here?"

"Sure thing Lan! What have you seen in there?" Said MegaMan.

Lan looked at Treble. "There are some chips in here? As in, really, really rare ones?" He turned to Arthur "I'll trade you some of my ones for some of these."

"I want to know what they are first!" Said Arthur.

"Right... in between the code that I don't quite recognise... I can see some code for Dark Aura, some code for Bass Anomaly, and a few more I don't even recognise..." Said Lan.

"I don't know what those are, but how good are they?"

"They're giga chips."

Oboro came in holding a huge blue box. "Here you go. Can we come back in yet?"

"Thanks! Um... I'm going to be doing some really difficult work. It's going to be about a seventeen hour task to do the main body, and there's some extra code that I haven't looked at yet but the file is... absurdly large. I'm going to need dad's help, I think." Said Lan. Arthur was amazed how confident he sounded. Lan was obviously under eighteen, possibly under sixteen. The boy was a prodigy, no doubt about that.

Oboro set the box on the side. "I'll... go get some coffee. And will you be returning to see Mayl or continuing to work after hours?"

"It looks like a three-day job, even my dad was here. He'll probably help, actually. But I'm still going to go see Mayl. Oh, and ring Sean Obihiro. He'll probably want to see all this." Said Lan.

Arthur sat down. "Three days? You're... willing to work for three days?"

"Of course! No aspiring scientist in their right mind would pass up the chance to work on Gos- Treble!" Said Lan cheerily. "Now..." he punched in a code to a lock on the blue box. Arthur peered inside to see at least five hundred battlechips. Maybe six hundred. All neatly arranged, too. "Arthur, can you get me my Bug Charge chip? It's giga-class." Said Lan, turning back to the computer.

Arthur looked along the rows upon rows of chips, and realised this was only layer one. He took the edges of the tray and lifted, revealing layer two. And then layer three, and four. A few black chips caught his eye against the others. "Are... are those... Dark Chips?"

"Yes. They're more of a souvenir than anything. We even wrote in a safety net to stop the newest PETs accepting them anymore. If you use them, they'll corrupt your Navi's soul beyond repair." Warned Lan.

"Oh." Said Arthur. "Hey, there's Bug Charge. Hey, Treble! It has your face!" Commented Arthur.

Treble looked at the chip. "It's me! :D"

"It's you!"

"Thanks Arthur!" Said Lan, taking the chip and slotting it into his PET. "Okay, MegaMan, don't load this as an attack! I need to look at the code."

"I can't use it, remember? It's fuelled by bugs, and I don't have any." Said MegaMan.

"Yeah. I'm just wondering if it could shed more light on Treble's code. It's based on an attack that was used by Bass when he had Gospel." Explained Lan.

Arthur raised a smile. "Fuelled by bugs you say?"

Lan realised and laughed. "Oh. Ha Ha Ha! We should test it out once I get the bugs out of Treble's core programs. Those mettaurs will never see it coming! Now... I'm going to get started. Treble, how do you feel about your gravity and balance..."

* * *

About an hour later, Yuichiro came in, followed by Sean Obihiro. "Sorry I'm late, Lan. I offered to pick up Sean."

"No problem dad! Come look at this bit of code here, it's really annoyingly worded..." Said Lan.

As the two started to jointly analyse the coding, Sean looked at the screen. "So... I guess I didn't really know what to expect when I was told that my old Multi Bug Organism was found. Do you remember me?"

"Yes. :/"

"Well, you're free to go. I've put Gospel behind me. Of course, I still care about your wellbeing. But I don't want anything to do with you either. You remind me of who I was, and he was not a good person. And you. Operator." Said Sean bluntly.

"Um, yes?" Said Arthur.

"Don't do anything stupid. That means letting him near a Navi called Bass, letting him get deleted, and trying to restore his original form outside a closed server." Said Sean. "I think that's all I came to say. Goodbye... Gospel."

"I'm called Treble now! :L"

"I know." Sean walked out of the room without another word.

"Did I do something to upset him?" Said Arthur.

"He doesn't have a whole lot of great memories about Gospel." Said Lan.

"Oh. Doctor Hikari, sir... what is your diagnosis of my Navi?" Said Arthur.

"Please. Call me Yuichiro. Anyhow, despite the questionable origins, and the codes that have gone into them... they seem surprisingly fixable, if fragmented. It may take a while, however. And there seems to have been a rather... more recent attempt at patching things up in here. "

Arthur looked away sheepishly.

"It's okay, if somewhat basic. But it's Navi code, in a half-virus. I'll replace it with some tailored parts that should run more smoothly." Offered Yuichiro.

"Can I keep a copy of the old code as a reminder of my near-death experience? Maybe frame it or something? :)" Joked Treble.

"I was careful in there!" Protested Arthur.

* * *

Five hours later, everyone was tired out of their minds. Mr. Penn came in with Oboro. "The last trains are leaving soon. We should go home for now, son."

"What about Treble?" Said Arthur.

"He'll be safe here. There are plenty of Navis around to talk to, but he can't do any busting until we're finished." Said Lan.

"Come and pick him up in about two days. Ah, and also... did you sign the secrets act? Nobody is meant to know about Sean and Gospel. It would destroy the young man's future if word got out."

"Yes, about an hour ago. Treble, will you be okay here?"

"Yes, these people are great! They even left in the bugs in my personality! ;)"

"You take care, then. I'll see you in time for the tournament." Said Arthur.

* * *

As Arthur eventually sat down at home, he noticed he had an email from Joe.

'Arthur. You missed the fight of the century earlier! Two red Navis with swords got into a HUGE fight in the town square. We recorded almost the entire thing, and I've attatched it to this email. I advise you make some popcorn before watching.'

Arthur neglected to make popcorn, and opened the file.

Two Navis that seemed to be alternate versions of one another were duelling with swords. One was taller, with a solid yellow strip that resembled hair and a handheld triangular blade. The other was shorter and faster, with a green regular sword and very well-detailed white hair. They were both fighting with nearly unbelievable skill. The blades flashed this way and that faster than Arthur could follow, each seeming to come within pixels of landing a blow. He was sure that even a small slip here could cost hundreds of HP.

The battle raged, one navi seeming to gain the upper hand for mere seconds at a time before the other would pull out an even more death-defying move and shift the balance of power. Suddenly, both lunged past each other. Arthur expected that would decide the battle, but both spun and launched arcs of deadly energy at their foes. The arc from the power-based Navi broke through the other arc, but a perfectly-timed Guard3 stopped it dead, and the combat resumed. The shorter Navi was going through a measured flow of battlechips, trying to win through a steady application of pressure, but the stronger Navi wasn't giving up. His blade itself seemed to be as strong as, if not stronger than most of the chips. And neither had a low HP pool by the looks of things. And then suddenly, the two Navis stopped. Arthur looked carefully, trying to spot a wound on one, when the taller Navi dropped their sword and clutched the side of their chest.

To his surprise, his opponent walked forwards and dispelled their blade, offering a recover 300. The taller Navi gladly accepted, and picked up their sword and handed it to the shorter Navi. The recording ended there.

Arthur replayed it, watching the intense battle. He really wished he had made popcorn for it, but oh well. _Who were those guys? Street performers?_

* * *

 **Outside SciLab servers**

"Have you finalised the hack?"

"Yes, sir. They don't suspect a thing. I forecast a victory."

"Excellent. We're smart. We don't have to be able to beat MegaMan. We just have to be able to stall him."

"Weather permitting, this time tomorrow we'll be the greatest assassins around."

"That we will, SolarMan. That we will. All we have to do is time it well."

 **Author's notes: So, Gospel is not going to be called Gospel anymore!** ** **Along with a chunk of his backstory coming out.** And I'll be adding the Treble tag. I didn't earlier in case it tipped anyone off. And ProtoMan fights Zero while this chapter is happening, because Chaud is a terrible diplomat.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: Oh yeah, the variable sword codes are absolutely nightmarish, easpecially in BN3. But then we have the Neo Variable Sword, and that is best described as the 'Oh dear go t'. I did never read UnderShirt as UnderShit, but I DID read the description for cyclone in MMBN5 as 'SHIT STORM 3 PANELS AHEAD', and nearly died due to choking on my biscuit in shock.**

 **Guest: He's just pretending to be angry, since he is acutely aware it saved his life. MegaMan in this story is at his full strength, averaged from all the games (1000 HP, buster at level 3 everything, amazing folder, most crosses available...) so a fight with him would be one-sided to say the least. But I am considering the two having a practice match.**

 **RushAlias: Alas, there isn't all that much. I'm just trying to fix that a little.**


	5. Chapter 5: Sunny

Arthur woke up about fifteen minutes before school, and reached for his PET before remembering it was currently halfway across the country.

 _I got used to him pretty quick..._

He fell into his schoolclothes, and walked downstairs. One slice of toast later, he was plodding out of the door. Treble was the only thing on his mind. So much so that he didn't watch where he was going in the slightest. He walked straight into someone.

"Hey!" They said sharply. "Watch out."

"Oh, uh, sorry. Are you okay?" Arhur looked over the person. Red jacket, white hair with black roots... probably not a person to be messed with.

"Never mind. Say, have you seen anything unusual on the net here lately? Anything at all?" They said.

"...There was a big fight in the central server yesterday. There's a video going around if you want to see, but I don't have my PET right now."

"Why not?" They said easily.

"Are you in a gang? Look, I promise I have nothing worth stealing unless you're desperate for school supplies." Said Arthur.

"No. Nevermind." The boy said, walking off.

* * *

Arthur made it into school just in time. He was coming through the gates just as the bell rang for the start of homeroom.

His friends were waiting. "Arthur! Where were you yesterday?" Asked William.

"Oh, I went to Central City to get my Navi debugged." Said Arthur.

"How are they now, then? They've got to better with your code outside."

"Oh, ha ha." Said Arthur sarcastically, before dropping to a whisper. "I'm not sure I'm allowed to say. It's kind of complicated. Really threw me off guard, in fact. But that Navi had a bit of a history."

Denny glanced over. "Are they imprisoned?"

"No. But... when I found them, I sent a HUGE amount of their code to a separate file to make them fit in my PET, and that code is also getting debugged... They estimated it at a seventeen hour job, but in truth I think it'll be more. It really seemed like difficult code to them." Arthur tried to pick his words carefully. "Oh, and we've opted to change the name. We're going to call them Treble from now on."

"Huh? What was wrong with Gospel?" Said Joe.

"As it turns out, they were named after a terrorist group-" Arthur tried to think of a reasonable lie, certain he couldn't say exactly where Gospel had originated. He settled for the suggestion he'd heard yesterday, and prayed William wouldn't pick it out. "As some kind of joke by whoever made them. That group wasn't big here, but apparently they hit pretty hard in some other areas."

MathMan spoke up from Joe's desk "They estimated the debug at seventeen hours?"

"Yeah. With two people working on it. I'll be going to pick them up tomorrow."

"How much did that cost? Bugfixing is quite a lucrative profession, I'm told. Not many people can do it well, especially when there are severe bugs. " Said MathMan.

"They..." Would revealing it was being done for free tip everyone off? Probably. Joe was logically brilliant. William was a bloodhound for suspicious statements. Denny had street smarts. And they shared those qualities with their Navis. "Well, my dad called in a few favours, since he knows some of the staff, so that knocked the price down a lot, and he said he'd pay, too, since it was my first custom Navi... so I don't actually know?"

"Fair enough." Said William. "Did you bring a calculator for maths later today?"

"Oh. I'll be fine, it's just multiplication. So anyway, what happened in the square yesterday? I saw the video." Said Arthur, knowing full well he couldn't multiply like a calculator.

Denny sat up and started paying attention. "Well, I was there first, and that smaller Navi was around looking for someone. You... know how I pay for all my chips with most of my immediate family in jail, right?"

"You never told me." Said Arthur, voice as low as he could make it.

"Well I won't here, or I'd be out of a job. But I was meant to be meeting them there. Only when I did, he pointed into the middle of a crowd and picked out the other Navi. And then things got weird. See, every non-custom Navi, in fact, every weak Navi in the area was logged out by server command. I resisted, and so did a few of the other strong Navis there, but the Navi he picked out was left unaffected. So the smaller one shouts 'Official NetBattler! Halt, on suspicion of multiple crimes!"

"And what next?" Said William tensely.

"The taller Navi turns and slowly pulls out his sword, and says 'I won't be falsely accused for the sake of a grudge'. And then the fight happened. I'll skip to the end of that girl's recording: After he knocked them down, they greeted each other. I'm not giving out names, but they clearly had fought to the near death in the past. The smaller one apologized and admitted the taller one was innocent, and they went off to the local police server to discuss why the smaller one was there."

"But why would an official NetBattler be here?"

"They hunt down cyber criminals the regular police down at the station can't handle. So there's one here." Said Denny. "I'll be honest though, our station has literally one good netbattler, and he's probably weaker than MathMan. It wouldn't take much for them to need help."

"Hm. That's nice to hear." Commented MathMan.

"Don't let it go to your head soldier!" Buzzed ArsenalMan.

* * *

 **The following morning...**

"SON, GET UP! WE'LL MISS THE TRAIN!" Shouted Mr. Penn.

Arthur shot out of bed, travelling up what felt like a metre in the air and landed fully dressed, at least that was how it felt. "On my way!" He made a mad dash for the door, slipping into his shoes without bothering to tie them. "Let's go!"

They left the house at a brisk walk, earlier than either usually left for school or work. After a short time, they were on board the train to Central City. Arthur finally tied his shoelaces. "Do we need to be at the lab at a certain time?" Yawned Arthur.

"No. It won't even be open yet. Do you want breakfast?"

"Mm. I'm not really used to waking up so early..."

"It sucks, son."

"It does. Where should we go to eat? I haven't been to this city much."

"Me neither, but there was vendor on the way. And we need to pick out a voice program for your Navi, too."

"Oh yeah! I've been giving it a lot of thought... I think I either want the Markus Hamill voice, or the Morgan Freeman or perhaps one of the Matthew Mercy packs if we're giving them a male voice, but maybe a good female one will pop up."

"You don't know if your Navi's a boy or a girl?"

"Well, they don't really have any defining physical features that give it away. Not that it really matters for a Navi. There's basically no difference besides whether they get called Something Man or Something Woman. And Treble doesn't even come under that naming convention. But I'll be honest, I think the personality fits a boy better."

"I understand. You know, there was a conversation at the bar last night about how Morgan Freeman might be a universal constant."

"...he has a great voice, but I don't know much about universal constants."

"Yes, me neither. But either way, I don't think his voice would suit Treble. He sounds wise and smooth."

"His voice is like pouring caramel over a gold bar."

"And your Navi is an excitable dog. Not a good combination, as good as the two things are alone."

"I think Markus Hamill is a good choice here. You know, the guy who voiced that famous cartoon movie?"

"No. But we can listen to the preview. Ugh, I should have had breakfast."

Twenty minutes later, they were holding bacon rolls while browsing a Navi customisation shop. There were professionally-made Navi marks, some even animated. There were some improved semi-custom Navis for sale, effectively just ordinary Navis with extra armor. And a section for Navi voices. It was an electronic display with thousands, yet effectively millions of options, allowing a custom pack to be created by first selecting an actor, and then making small tweaks to how deep or high-pitched the voice was, or even adding filters. Arthur picked out Markus Hamill, altered it just to be a tiny bit lower, paid and left.

* * *

Lan and Yuichiro were already at lab 4, despite Scilabs having only opened ten seconds ago, with Arthur waiting on the doorstep. The sun was just beginning to rise enough to heat the earth over in the distance, and the sky was as clear as still water. Arthur walked in, and his father went over to the front desk. The woman behind it immediately smiled and said. "Go on in, I've got your identites registered. They've been ecstatic."

Arthur strode down the corridor at the 'I'm not running but I want to be' speed, followed by his father. Carefully, he opened lab 4's door to see the waiting scientists. "Hey there." he said softly.

Lan yawned. "Hey. We're almost done. But we need to put everything together." An empty paper cup rolled off the desk.

"We obtained a lot of useful knowledge about bugs by analysing your Navi." Said Yuichiro. "Honestly, I haven't made so much progress so quickly in years!"

"Lan, maybe you should go to bed. I'm sure dad can handle the leftovers." Said MegaMan.

Lan yawned. "Okay. Dad, does your office still have that couch?"

"Yes. Go ahead." Said Yuichiro. Lan slowly got up and left the room. "So, do you want to see them? They'll come out of standby in twenty minutes. We couldn't put them in standby on demand, and I had to manually knock them out for a set period of time to take out some of the bugs in the core programs. You'd hardly believe some of the things we found in there."

"Like?" Asked Arthur.

Yuichiro chuckled. "I don't remember everything, but we had about half an undershirt, a few bits of basic chips and also a purely cosmetic helmet in Treble's core functions. Although, a lot of programs in there that are only missing a few lines have actually been left in, at Treble's request. I tried to weave them in to actually have a use, though. Oh, and the secondary body backup. That was quite the ordeal to even understand, but we got there in the end. Lan's learned more in these few days than some apprentices learn in a year. I'm grateful you let us look through your Navi."

"I... I didn't do much, really I should be thanking you." Said Arthur sheepishly.

"Now, the list of changes. There are quite a few, but I'll start with the major ones. Their body will be fully recongised as a Navi by official systems, rather than a virus, and they'll be able to interface with all data, although previously there would only have been errors with very specific programs. Lan fixed the tail and mapped some motions to it, since none were found... um, we wrote it all down in a notepad, where is it?" Yuichiro rummaged through his pockets, and pulled out a small notebook. "Here we go! Added a purely cosmetic out-of-battle form where the eyes have whites and they have a tongue, installed the prototype SmellProg..."

"SmellProg?"

"Oh, we've experimented with replicating the sense of smell in data before, but this is the latest and hopefully best attempt. It seemed appropriate for Treble."

"Wow!"

"...created the ElementBreath personal chips, that projects damaging breath of a random element over an area, refined the secondary body backup into a usable program, added the BugExchange, added the option to turn BugTouch on or off..."

"BugExchange? Secondary body backup? You're getting ahead of me." Said Arthur.

"BugExchange is simple. As you know, when Treble eats a bugfrag then the code is used to improve their armor, but it's not 100% efficient. the BugExchange program assembles useless data into the incomplete programs found inside Treble. Once a program has been restored, switch Treble to the secondary form and it'll appear in their mouth. Oh, and the Secondary Body Backup was that data you seperated from them. As the name suggests, it's a backup file of the old body they had. It actually contains most of the programs you'll get from BugExchange. The alterations I made were minimal, mostly to allow it to run without causing a personality override and to make it continue to work despite Treble becoming a Navi. I'll warm you now, in this form they're definitely a virus and their 'destroy' persona will be a lot closer to dominant, rather than nearly disconnected as it is."

"You mean Treble can trasform into a second form?"

"Yes, although it's not a simple procedure to run the files. It's an adaptation of one of my more successful projects, and also a lot of the data we have for MegaMan's Beast Out, by inserting your new ElementBreath B personal chip, BugCharge B and VariableSword B, you'll also run a file I made, labelled OriginBat to create the program advance for transforming. By default, your Navi will take the original form for thirty seconds, but if you input the Conami code after you add VariableSword, then it'll persist indefinitely even outside battle, at the cost of the destruction persona becoming continually more dominant while they're in combat. I know that's a lot of power to give to anyone, so I have added a safeguard. If he spends a full two minutes in combat in the original form, then it'll automatically run a knockout program that will leave them in Navi form unconscious. It should make sure we don't have him running loose on the net if things get out of hand, and you'll be able to jack them out with no resistance."

"..." Arthur's jaw dropped open as his mind was blown away. "Y-You did all that for me? I've never even met you before all this... How could I ever repay you? This must all be worth millions of Zenny."

"No, the scientific knowledge we gained from him -just so far- has been equal to, at Lan's estimations, 'like a bazillion Zenny'. I'd guess around three million, personally. Bug fusion is _expensive,_ since it has a tendency to melt computers. Plus we'll get even more data if you'll allow us to record how they perform outside our testing server." Yuichiro smiled.

"Why... of course! I don't think I could turn you down after this. But before I forget! I bought a voice pack. Could you install it?"

"Just pass it to me." Yuchiro took the small data card, and plugged it into the computer. "Oh, Markus Hamill. Great choice. I'll just slot it in here..." He jumped to page two thousand and something with a nimble sequence of commands, and pasted the files in.

"So, do we just wait for them- him now, I guess, to wake up, and... we'll see how it goes. Wait, um... I... don't have BugCharge. Can I borrow Lan's?"

"Of course. We found a Holy Dream chip in there, but Treble won't be able to use it since he's still got a lot of bugs. Likewise, MegaMan can't use BugCharge, so we'd call it an even, and mutually beneficial trade."

"Holy Dream? I haven't heard of that chip before."

"It's another Giga chip, and a powerful one at that. It converts all nearby Holy Panels into highly damaging buster shots that can't be avoided. But you can't have any bugs, and Treble has still got many, even if they won't hold him back now." Explained Dr. Hikari.

"So... I just got a free Giga chip, a free custom Navi that's possibly more powerful than anything else in my entire half of the country, and I met some of the biggest celebrities... I... I think I'm going to cry. In a good way. Doctor. There must be something more I can do for you besides just letting you have some data." Hiccuped Arthur.

Yuichiro smiled. "Well, we got a free Giga chip, about a year's worth of research for free, and you're certainly more grateful than some clients we have. Go on, Treble wakes up in five minutes, and he'll want to see you smile, I think."

Arthur sat down in one of the chairs with tears streaming down his face. Mr. Penn looked at Yuichiro approvingly. "You're a generous man, Yuichiro. If you ever need something, just call me."

"Thank you! Now, let's take a look. Oh! Before I forget, your PET couldn't hold the Second Body Data as it was, so I added an extra storage card. I've glued it in place, because it wouldn't be good if it came out. Plus I had the engineers renew the waterproofing and radiation proofing, so Treble should be absolutely safe in there." Continued Yuichiro.

"At this point, I think it would be easier to ask if there's anything you didn't do?" Said Arthur.

Yuichiro considered the question. "We didn't manage to make NaviCust work very well. It doesn't have a line across the block, so you can only run passive programs. Oh, and his limit for Mega chips per battle is four, rather than 5. Not too severe, but limitations we couldn't overcome this time."

"Well, it's still the most absolutely, purely legendary gift either I or Treble have recieved."

"I'm awake, doct- AH?!" Sounded the computer. "Is? Is this my voice now?" Said Treble. "I feel... great! Although this is really strange! And I'm getting all these data inputs I didn't have before?! Is this the SmellProgram? And I feel like... I feel so... just... Ha Ha! Woooo Hoo!" He bounced around, light on his feet. "I feel buggy but bubbly! And there's all these new options going around in my head... It's perfect, Yuichiro!"

"Treble! Feeling good, buddy?" Asked Arthur.

"I feel like I'm so, so ready for that tournament! Come on, we'll destroy them all as much as we can and then throw them a party!" Said Treble cheerily. Arthur noted the previously limp and hidden tail was wagging wildly. The new cosmetic eyes and tongue made him look a dozen times friendlier.

"Brilliant! Aw, this is so cool! I can't wait to go bust some viruses with you." Said Arthur.

Yuichiro stepped into the conversation. "Well, we do need to give him a combat test, to check everything's working. We've tested every program individually to make sure it works, but to test them all at once we had to get this far."

"Let's destroy a virus!" Cheered Treble.

Yuichiro moved over to another computer. "Okay, Arthur, are you ready with your chips? BugCharge is on the side there. So is your Navi's personal chip."

Arthur scooped up the Giga chip, and the chip next to it. "I feel powerful just holding these." He commented.

"Gimme gimme gimme!" Said Treble.

"Alright, releasing a disarmed Mettaur. Give your basic abilities a try before we move onto the big ones." Instructed Yuichiro.

"Treble, destroy!"

"RAAAH!" He shouted, cosmetic eye-whites and tongue disappearing. It was a simple task, and Treble cleaved through the Mettaur in one blow.

"Fifty damage, quick charge time, stepping properties, small area." Said Yuichiro. "Next, we'll try using basic chips. Releasing Mettaur two."

"Airshot, in!"

The blue cannon appeared instantly with a small bit of a stutter, but it didn't stop Treble knocking the virus back with solid accuracy. "Give me another one!"

"WideSword, in!"

The cannon morphed into a blade, and unlike the Airshot, the hilt was colored gray to match Treble's armor. Treble experimentally turned his wrist to get a feel for the blade, then quickly cut the practice Mettaur in half. "Ha!" he exclaimed. "... wait, how do I do an emoji like this? I want to use the D face."

"You can make a visual text box by going into the communications menu." Said Yuichiro helpfully.

":D"

"Alright, we'll move to testing Bug Charge next.."

An intercom buzzed "Paging Doctor Hikari to the front door... Sorry." Said a woman.

"The door?" Said Arthur.

Yuichiro sighed. "It's been acting up recently. There's a design flaw that's been overheating its computer. I suppose it's gotten too bad for the technicians. I'll be right back, you two." He left the room stiffly, betraying how tired he was.

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck. "You know... it's pretty hot in here. Maybe we should open a window?"

His father opened the door, and stuck his hand into the corridor. He sharply inhaled. "Do you have a thermometer?"

"...no?"

"Okay, there's one on my PET actually. Navi, what is the current temperature?" Said Mr. Penn.

"Estimated twenty eight degrees Celsius." said a robotic voice.

Mr. Penn looked at Arthur. "No windows are open in the corridor. And the glass is completely clear, letting heat in. I know as much tech as a pidgeon, but something is up, son."

"Well, let's tell front desk."

"... _I'll_ tell front desk. Also son, just in case your old man's right about his paranoia, don't let this door swing shut. SOMETHING is up. I just don't know what." He brushed out of the room.

Arthur stood by the door, leaning against it. "Treble, I think father might be onto something. Can you see the window computers from in there? Is anything wrong with them?"

Treble moved off, moving faster than he used to. Arthur watched his tail bob up and down a little as he ran. "Umm. Yes. They seem to be... on fire."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "On fire in the physical world or the cyber world?"

"Cyber. They... aren't supposed to be like that, are they?"

"I'm going to guess no. Well, I guess we'll just go find the repairman."

A second Navi walked up behind Treble. "RepairMan is working at doors!"

* * *

Treble turned to see an absolutely tiny Navi in white and gold looking up at him. "Who are you?" He said.

"Trill! Trill, trill, trill..." They started to wander off.

Treble glanced back to Arthur. "Um... are they going to be okay?" Arthur prompted.

"Hey. Trill. Where's your operator? Are you lost?"

"Mmm. No! Can't cube you... Can't, can't... Oh!" Said Trill. The tiny Navi produced an equally tiny text file.

'This is Trill, a recent project still in Beta. If they're outside the TestServer, please notify an operator!'

"Oh, that's why you look like a baby. A beta program is kind of like a baby program, right?" Said Arthur.

Treble perked up. "Oh, oh! I can use my new voice to shout for someone! HELLOOOO? TRILL'S BETA TESTER? WHERE ARE YOU?"

Trill giggled. "SheepMan is away, away, awayyy... so's everyone. Trill can go anywhere!"

"They must be at the door. For the time being... there are no viruses here, right?" Said Arthur.

Treble shook his head. "There are some. I think I can smell some! Where should we put this tiny guy?"

"Uhh... I guess the computer there is as safe as it'll get." Said Arthur.

Treble tried to pick up Trill, but as his hands got near, they pixelated. "...I can't touch them. I'm not sure, but... I think that if I did, they'd freeze me. They must be a virus defence Navi?"

"Well, if there's nothing we can do, then we shouldn't waste time. Things are actually getting too hot out here." Said Arthur.

Treble heard footsteps. Mr. Penn came into view. "Son, we've got trouble. Orders from Yuichiro- get Treble into the network and rendevous with MegaMan. Ignore any program in the way, just get to him ASAP. I'm going to try and find a crowbar."

"A crowbar?! What's wrong?!" Said Arthur.

"Scilabs got hacked. All the windows and doors are locked shut, and letting as much heat in as possible. Someone is trying to cook us alive. MegaMan can easily reverse the hack, but he needs some extra firepower to get to the terminal before we're done in. Bye now. Oh, and also..." Mr. Penn grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and wedged it into the doorframe, then ran off.

Arthur stared at the screen. "You heard all that. Welp. Time to get moving."

"Gotcha!" Confirmed Treble.

* * *

Upon entering ScilabArea, Treble could see the deleted fragments of many Navis strewn about. A few firewalls were absolutely trashed.

MegaMan was ahead, firing his buster into the nearest one. "Treble! You're up?" He called.

"Yep! Yep!" Said Treble.

"How can we help?" Said Arthur.

MegaMan pointed to the firewall. "We at Scilab switched to just raw walls with no quick way around. I see now why there's normally a backdoor. Can you get through these? I'm strong because I can adapt... but there's nothing to adapt to on these things!"

Treble flexed. "Ultimate form time! Do it, Arthur!"

"Wait! What's the Conami code?" Said Arthur.

"Up up, down down, left- right- left- right- B A." Said MegaMan, without stopping his buster fire.

Arthut put in the chips with a satisfying click. "Up Up, Down Down, Left Right Left Right B A!" He was silent for a second as the text appeared on screen. "Program Advance! ORIGIN!"

Treble heard a roaring in his virtual ears. A familiar sound file, and one that had been with him for as long as he'd existed. There was a flash, and a shockwave of force that swept MegaMan back a few steps. "AWWW YEAAAH!" Blared his voice, a grainy filter pasted over it. This body felt natural for him to be in. It felt good, if heavy. His bug armor coated his whole body, darker and pulsating with dangerous code.

"Treble! Destroy those firewalls!" Called Arthur.

"ON IT! DESTROOOY!" GS-Treble reared back a little, and blew blue flames all over the firewall. It visibly cracked. He lunged forward, and raked a colossal claw over the wall. It dissolved into data to reveal another one.

"MegaMan, does this count as combat?" Asked Arthur, knockout program in mind.

"Not unless there's a virus or hostile Navi nearby!" Yelled MegaMan. "Lan! We gotta keep viruses out of range of Treble so he can break through the leftover walls!"

Arthur faintly heard Lan saying "Understood. I'm sending Wind chips. Build a barrier!"

MegaMan started summoning beige boxes behind wherever Treble moved. The resulting curtain of air was certainly effective against the scores of viruses that seemed to be crawling out of nowhere. Some still slipped through, only for MegaMan to change his form. "Sol Cross!" He yelled. He pulled out a funny weapon that looked like... a weaponised magnifying glass with a gun on the bottom?

Arthur took his eyes off Treble's destruction spree to watch MegaMan move around with eye-popping precision, dodging attack like he was privy to the future ten seconds in advance. Arthur was a little cowed. Even if Treble packed one hell of a punch, he knew instantly he wouldn't stand a chance versus MegaMan. He looked back to Treble, who was chewing apart yet another firewall. "Mega, how many walls are there?"

"Three left!" Called MegaMan.

"YAAAAHOOOOO! DESTRUCTION!" Shouted GS-Treble. He burned a hole in the one in front of him, and forced his paws into the hole, ripping the wall in half.

MegaMan was a yellow whirlwind, shouting out attack names and summoning an apparently endless supply of Fans. Arthur tried to keep count of his deleted enemies, but the number was rising faster than he could see. Eventually, MegaMan dropped his shining golden form and instead his suit turned black, large orange fins cresting the helmet, and... was that a brown scarf around his neck?

"Bass Cross A! Shooting buster!" He yelled. He levelled his buster, and started firing into the swarm of viruses. For a moment, nothing happened, but then at least half simultaneously were deleted. "Hurry up on that firewall, Treble- Temperature's getting dangerous outside!"

"Can he use chips like this?" Said Arthur.

"They'll automatically convert to special attacks based on attribute! Give him some Break type ones!" Responded MegaMan.

Arthur looked around the room. "I don't have-" He saw the blue box. "Can I..." The question died on his lips. Lan would definitely NOT mind under these circumstances. Arthur hefted the box over his head, and smashed it on the floor as hard as he could. Despite the complex locking code and tough box, a security system is only as strong as it's weakest link. The latch popped open from the force, and battlechips went everywhere. Arthur scrambled through. "Hammer, IN!" He slotted in the chip, sweat drippiong from his brow.

GS-Treble's head turned into a drill, to Arthur's surprise. It launched from his body, accompanied by Treble making a loud "NYOOOM!". It bored through the wall ahead instantly, then snapped back to the body as his head.

"ONE MOREEE!" Roared GS-Treble. He turned up the breath, and went all out with everything he had. It bent at a funny angle, before falling over.

MegaMan watched the wall go down. "Treble, you handle the viruses! I'll take out the leading Navi!"

"Treble, drop back to Navi form. You can't stay like this for prolonged combat!" Said Arthur.

"I'M GONNA RIP THEM APART!" Roared GS-Treble.

"...Bloodlust. Okay... Treble, I'm sending chips!"

"YOU SEE WHAT WE NEED TO DO!"

"...I do! But you need to see as well! If you stay in that form much longer you'll faint! And that means no destruction!" Said Arthur.

"...FINE." ':(' There was a flash, and GS-treble was replaced with regular Treble. "Chips?"

"BugBomb in!" Said Arthur.

The small grenade materialised in Treble's hand. The Navi pitched it into the viruses. There was a 'Pop' and about half of the viruses staggered as if dizzy. Arthur could overhear the fiery Navi taunting as MegaMan approached him. "I am SolarMan, and today there is a 100% chance of sunshine. Don't get _overheated_."

"BEAST OUT!"

There was a very loud roar, and it didn't come from Treble. Arthur forced one eyes off his Navi to see... MegaMan, but dressed like a... less-buggy Treble? Either way, he was suddenly beating the snot out of SolarMan.

Treble sniffed the 'air', while the array of fans kept the viruses back. "Wow, he smells great!" Said Treble.

"Who?" The question caught Arthur off guard.

"MegaMan, I think. He smells like... huh. Not sure what he smells like. But he smells great!" repeated Treble.

"Um. Moving on, I have a few chips here, thunder and ZapRing, so..." Said Arthur. "Battlechips... in... jeez, it's absolutely boiling."

"Yah!" Shouted Treble, destroying a few nearby viruses.

Suddenly, the viruses turned and left. Treble looke to see regular MegaMan standing where he was. "Alright, the computers should be under our control now. I'm opening the windows, you evacuate Lan." He saw Treble. "Good job! You saved us there. I owe you. Heh, never thought I would back then."

"No problem! I loved it!" Said Treble. "I- Uh? What's that feeling? Like... kind of like that smell I smelled..."

"I can feel something too, inside me. I think it's Gregar. Yes, I feel... like Gregar approves of something... Is this a going to form a cross? Yes! I feel it." MegaMan looked Treble in the eyes. "You're pretty easy to resonate with. We'd better jack out for now though. Our operators might have the windows open, but they probably want out." MegaMan said, before disappearing.

"Gos- Treble, back. I'm feeling faint." Said Arthur seriously. The Navi appeared in his PET. Arthur pried himself out of the chair, and plodded over to the doors. They were open, with most of the staff outside. Someone had punched a small hole in one.

"Water! We need water!" Called someone. Arthur forced himself to pick up the pace. Wait... was the person calling... his father? "Son! Thank goodness. I had to trust you to get out there. Yuichiro needs water, he hasn't been keeping topped up overnight." Frowned his father. The scientist in question rested on a shady bench. He was conscious at least.

"I'll... live." He choked out. "I owe... your dad."

"Doctor, no talking until Gemma gets back with a drink. MY orders." Said another man, with red hair. Mr. Famous.

Yuichiro nodded.

"Dad! Dad, where are you?!" Shouted Lan. He saw him on the bench and ran over. "DAAAD!"

"I'll be fine, Lan." Smiled Yuichiro. "How are you?" He coughed.

"Nevermind that, does anyone have a drink?!" Asked Lan.

Mr. Famous raised a hand. "We sent Gemma to just buy all she could carry."

Lan visibly relaxed. "Okay. Arthur. How are you doing?"

Arthur wiped his brow. "Alright. You?"

"A bit hot. I had all the cameras going up there. Good job getting into my chip chest... but it wasn't locked" Said Lan with an awkward smile.

Arthur clapped his hands over his mouth. "OH. I'm so sorr-"

"Don't be. Seriously, it was to save everyone's lives! And do know what your dad did?" Said Lan.

"Um... not exactly."

"Well, he only managed to fracture _bulletproof_ glass with physical know-how. How's your arm doing, Mr, Penn?" Said Lan.

"Sore. Nothing major damaged. Famous finished the job." Said Mr. Penn.

"You and Famous saved that lady's life." Said MegaMan.

"Have to say, never expected that would be how I broke my house keys." Commented Mr. Penn. "At least it can be fixed."

"What did you do to break the glass?" Said Arthur.

"Ceramics. Not sure what it is about them son, but they break bulletproof glass easily. Or that's what the police say when they come to drink. So I smashed a vase, whittled the shard down to a face for a hammer as fast I could and blunted my key in the process, and whacked it until my arm went. Famous here took over and made an airhole for the poor lady."

"Phew... So then... will the Navis inside be okay? Oh, and who here operates SheepMan? Trill was looking for them." Said Arthur. Everyone stared at him.

Yuichiro broke the silence. "Nobody here operates a Navi called SheepMan."

 **Author's notes: So, a quick reviewer question! Who do you think has a voice that would suit Treble? I've settled with Mark Hamill (Markus in-universe, because Battle Network.). Mark voices Aladdin in the film of the same name. I'm pretty sure he's a good fit, but honestly you can imagine Treble having whatever voice you like. Also, I worked out what I'm doing with a bunch of chips that make no sense without a custom screen! And some others too!  
**

 **FolderBack reloads the last five chips a Navi used, ignoring letter codes. Great for recasting a difficult program advance like Master Style or just spamming RockCube to build a fort, although not even a quarter as gamebreaking as the original!**

 **FullCustom(ise) instantly clears any chips loaded, and adds weaker versions of their effects to the next chip.**

 **CustomSword and Otenko simply scale power over time, capping out after 15 seconds.**

 **Fast and Slow Gauge now accelerate or decelerate a Navi's personal clock by 30%. (So if GS-Treble used SlowGauge, he'd have roughly an extra 36 seconds before getting knocked out, because his internal clock would be slowed. Likewise, if someone with CustomSword used FastGauge it would scale up and also disappear more quickly- it effectively overclocks their PET's processor.)**

 **With DarkPower leaving the net, 'Holy' chips and 'Evil' chips have been updated to be compatible with Navis based on how much they're bugged. Evil chips are Anubis, BlackWing, BugCurse(moved to Mega class because it sucks), Muramasa, DeathPhoenix and BugCharge. Using a BugFix chip temporarily suppresses (NOT removes) a Navi's bugs, allowing use of Holy chips.  
**

 **Holy chips are HolyPanel, Sanctuary, Justice One, Meteor Knuckle, BigHook and HolyDream, alongside the SP versions of all Navi chips (You can't replicate accurately if you're buggy)** ** **excluding Bass**. Using a BugSkin chip adds superficial cosmetic bugs to a Navi for a fight, allowing use of Evil chips.**

 **All these chips grow more powerful the more/less bugs are found on a Navi. Using one of the two alignment changing chips will set the Navi at the weakest level of either for the fight.**

 **Area changing chips like GrassStage just change a massive circle of terrain, 10 panels in radius. Seed chips only change a 5 panel radius. Sanctuary makes a smaller circle because that's easier to defend.**

 **Treble's personal chip is just a much less damaging and shorter-ranged version of the breath he uses when you fight Gospel in MMBN2.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: Prepare for Treble, and make it double... Personally I suspect the suit was overloading itself to protect Lan (hence locking up the arms, power overflowing into other systems), and was able to hold out long enough for him to kill Gospel and shut down the servers. Sean's probably going to be sterile, though. I haven't played Boktai, so I'm not confident referenceing it, outside the chips and Sol cross MegaMan. Pile Driver!**

 **RushAlias: And here's my edition, a beta navi created by Scilabs to serve a similar, but currently unclear purpose. And he can talk.**

 **RandyPandy: Thanks! That personality still persists, although you can see bits of his other side start to show when he's busting through the firewalls in this chapter. Truthfully, I wing my stories to a large degree, and just try to make them feel like a reasonable part of the universe they're set in.**


	6. Chapter 6: Distrust

Half an hour later, everyone had had some cold drinks and was waiting outside while someone cleaned up the mess caused by the attack.

"How do you know the name Trill, Arthur?" Said Yuichiro.

"We found them running around when we went to check the window computers. They mentioned that SheepMan and everyone who looks after them was away, and we assumed it was because of the doors." Said Arthur. "Oh, and I read the tag attactched to them. They were in Scilab's main server, not the testing area."

Yuichiro frowned. "Then... we need to mount a search for him, immediately."

"Dad? What does Trill do? I know they were built around some kind of virus-busting program!" Said Lan.

Yuichiro looked over his shoulder. "Trill is a Navi I created to try and stem the power of extremely strong viruses. As you know, when any sufficiently powerful program is deleted, they can live on as a somewhat warped 'ghost', unless a failsafe was installed to make sure they really did die when deleted, like Col... the LifeVirus. Trill was a Navi I designed to prevent that, so if another cybeast, or supervirus ever rose, then we could delete it for good on our first try. Aside from that, they have an ability that's actually the opposite of what occurred in Treble. While Treble can cause bugs in Navis he touches -if he wants to- Trill can freeze and compress any virus he touches, if he wants to. And also... he can boost the power of other Navis somewhat."

"Oh, so that's why we couldn't pick him up. We wanted to move them to a safe area, but Treble couldn't touch them." Said Arthur.

"I think we should worry about SheepMan. Why would Trill know about a Navi if nobody here operates them?" Said Yuichiro.

Lan shrugged. "Well, we'll just have to go look. Is it okay to go back inside yet, dad?"

"Yes. Take Arthur with you, as long as he's here." Said Yuichiro.

Arthur followed Lan closesly, as he headed back into Scilabs. "What's the plan Lan?"

MegaMan spoke. "We have to get into the Scilab servers and sweep them for Trill, or evidence Trill is gone. By the way, Treble?"

"Oh? Yeah?"

"Watch out for SolarMan's data ghost. It'll be around here somewhere, since I deleted them." Said MegaMan.

"Shouldn't that be easy to see coming?" Said Arthur.

"They don't work that way. They just kind of pop up." Said Lan. "We'll jack in next to each other, and I'll pass you some water chips if you find them. You can record data from those ghosts more easily, to get better chips!"

"Cool!"

The two walked into lab four. Chips were still strewn across the floor. Lan knelt and scooped them back into the blue box messily. He set the box on the side and pointed his PET at the port. "Jack in, MegaMan. Execute!"

Arthur followed suit, and tried to put a little more dramatic flair into his normal call. "Treble, Hunt!"

* * *

The two Navis appeared next to each other in the SciLab main servers. MegaMan looked over Treble. "Okay, so I know my way around here, and I have the access codes... I'll check all the small servers, since it's like a maze in there. You go and check the door server, since you went there to smash through all those firewalls."

"Gotcha!" Said Treble, as MegaMan ran off.

There were still some viruses left in the labs, but most were weak. Mettaurs were no match for all but the weakest Navis, although some of the viruses that threw bombs were starting to get on Treble's nerves. Despite the bugfix, his health hadn't been raised. He moved into the DoorComputer, seeing rows and rows of broken walls.

Arthur looked over the desolate area. "I don't see them... but they could be behind the remains of one of these walls."

Lan looked at Arthur. "I'm serious! Watch out for SolarMan."

"Uhh... I'll try. Hey Treble? Do you remember what Trill smelled like? Can you smell them here?" Said Arthur.

Treble sniffed. "I don't smell them. I smell something burning, though... it's a bit familar!"

"Get out of there if you're not prepared to fight!" Said Lan urgently.

"No, I'm going to destroy them!" Said Treble.

Arthur nodded. "Alright, Treble, destroy! I'll send some chips now."

A Navi appeared in front of Treble. They were of a tall stature, with heavy boots and gloves that rippled with blazing fire. Their jumpsuit and helmet were patterened to look like solar panels. But what stood out was the face, or lack of one. They had a ball of fire where the head should have been, and no features apart from a pair of sunglasses. They pointed a finger at Treble shakily. "I... Forecast... sun. Don't... burn." They whispered.

"ColorPoint, Vulcan1, In!" Said Arthur.

Treble felt his legs become a little heavier as colorpoint activated, but opened fire with the Vulcan and saw it rip into SolarMan. SolarMan blinked back, and started to glow.

Lan saw this. "Okay, he's going to call down damaging rays of light. One second, I'll get my AquaSword!" He started rummaging through the massive pile of chips.

Treble ducked to the side as a sunbeam scorched the ground next to him. "He's fast!" He called. SolarMan reappeared close, and swung a flaming fist towards Treble. Treble nimbly dodged, and scratched him with his claws. SolarMan pressed forwards without flinching, and delivered a burning kick to Treble's chest. Treble staggered back, and lowered his centre of mass as he saw SolarMan preparing to lunge for him. As SolarMan went to punch him again, he jumped, slashing his target across the burning face. Treble yelped, apparently it really was flaming hot. Still, the cuts left behind were shaped irregularly where they'd bugged, and SolarMan was suddenly off-balance.

Lan triumphantly held up an AquaSword *. "Arthur, here you go!"

"AquaSword in! CrossBomb, in! Use the bomb to force them to get close!" Said Arthur.

Treble felt the CrossBomb appear, and hurled it behind SolarMan. SolarMan didn't even seem to notice it, charging an attack with his hands. Treble formed the AquaSword, and jumped forwards, trying to bring it down across SolarMan's chest. SolarMan completed his charging, and a surge of fire encapsulated him. It instantly expanded to a minature sun, which launched itself towards Treble. Treble hit it with the AquaSword, to no avail. The gaint ball of flame was weakened, but a lot still crashed into Treble's front. He flew back, smoking, damaged and growling, still standing, SolarMan across from him.

"TREBLE! I'm sending BugCharge, hold on!" Yelled Arthur. "BugCharge IN!"

Lan tapped Arthur's shoulder. "It needs ten seconds to warm up. Don't use it before then."

Treble could feel the large program register. "I'm... loving this! HaHA!" He leaned forwards, pivoting on his foot/paw and swinging a claw around recklessly. It clipped SolarMan, who called down more damaging rays, one hitting Treble. But he hadn't moved to a safer area, and Treble's next swing gouged out a huge chunk of his armor, revealing glowing blue data beneath. While SolarMan reeled from the blow, Treble played the roar file. "BugCharge!". Instead of forming a copy of his own head, his head glowed before a translucent copy of it rocketed off, slamming into SolarMan with an explosion.

'SolarMan Alpha, deleted.'

Arthur looked at the screen. "Oh hey, the SolarMan chip. Great job, Treble. How are your injuries?"

Treble patted himself down. "I'll be okay! Ahhh, that felt wonderful! Come on, let's go find Trill."

* * *

An hour later, Trill hadn't been found. However, something else had. MegaMan stared deadpan at a Mr. Prog. "You were in _standby_ , and you saw a Navi that was covered in wool?"

"Yes!" confirmed the Mr. Prog.

Arthur looked to Lan. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work this way?"

Lan looked confused. "I suppose... that if that was the SheepMan Trill mentioned, it makes sense. You know. Counting sheep. MegaMan, what do you think?"

"It's a good theory, Lan. But at the same time... when I'm in standby, it's like no time passes at all before I'm back up."

"But dreams are the same, right? We forget them in seconds, and then it's like no time has passed." Countered Lan.

Yuichiro walked in. "Arthur, you'll need to return to your home soon. The last train will leave in twenty minutes."

Arthur glanced at the clock. "It's only half four. What happened to the later trains?"

"They're going down for maintenance. Also... I need to make you an offer. Trill is a very important program to the future of the Net. Alongside two others in development, he's meant to give us a permanent solution to viruses. But if that power gets into the wrong hands, it'll be disastrous. I've got the officials on the case, but on the off-chance you find out anything, then contact Lan. Your Navi is stronger than most, but I wouldn't pit them against people with the sheer funding to try attacking SciLabs."

"We accept. But... just in case, do you know anything about the attackers? Maybe we can predict them?" Said Arthur.

Yuichiro was silent. "...Okay, but this is absolutely confidential. Never tell anyone, either of you. Not even the officials, or they'll want to know how you got the information. But I know EXACTLY who made SolarMan. It was the Eurasia institute of technology. I helped the programmer at the time, as an exchange student. And as an official Navi of that institute... I don't see them leaving without the institute's word. But the problem is, that evidence not only won't hold up in a courtroom, if it were true it would create tension between our countries. I'll tell the officials, of course, but for the time being... we must _not_ jump to conclusions. We need more evidence before we even try to work out what happened. But Lan, Arthur, if you see someone from the Eurasia institute with a combat Navi, contact me, and I'll in turn have an official Navi monitor them. Hopefully we can resolve this without causing a stir."

"I understand. Do I need to sign something to say I'm not going to talk?" Said Arthur.

"No. Just please, bear in mind your actions could have wider consequences." Said Yuichiro.

Lan smiled. "I always loved spy stuff. Maybe less after that scrape with ShadowMan... Bye for now, Arthur."

Arthur left the room with a wave. "Bye Lan! ...I hope we'll meet again!" He saw his father sat at one of the tables outside. They waved to each other, as Arthur jogged down the steps.

Mr. Penn looked at SciLabs with a hand over his eyebrows. "Never seen such great workers. A terrorist attack and they shrugged it off after a round of lemonades."

"Lan's... really something else." Said Arthur. It was starting to hit him again as an aftershock that he'd met Lan Hikari.

"Hah, did you get his autograph?" Said Mr. Penn.

Arthur clapped a hand over his mouth in disbelief. "I can't believe I forgot to ask."

Treble piped up. "I'll remind you next time." ':)'

Mr. Penn stood up, and brushed off his jacket. "The good doctor told me to keep it secret. Bit of a shame. Your mother would have loved to know... though she may have had a heart attack. Come on, son. Let's get home."

* * *

Arthur sat down at his desk, PET in hand. "Well... that was a day."

"It was a great day!" Said Treble.

"...Yeah. It was. Are you ready for the tournament? Actually, that's a silly question. You're beyond ready."

"Yep! Come on, let's go destroy some viruses! Put me in!" Said Treble.

"Okay. Treble, hunt." Arthur sent Treble into the local network.

Treble opened his eyes in Arthur's homepage. "Eh? Someone's been here..."

"Probably just ArsenalMan or MathMan. They expected you'd be back sooner." Said Arthur.

"No... someone really powerful. Way more than me!" Said Treble.

Arthur leaned forwards. "But... what kind of Navi would have that kind of power? And how do you know?"

"It doesn't matter. Time's wasting away here!" Said Treble.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Nah-uh. I'll understand if you don't want to say, but... How do you know?"

Treble's eyes shifted to the side. "I smell something familiar... but I'm sure I've never smelled it before. It's got a term, I think..."

"Deja Vu?"

"Sort of! But for smell. Come on, I can't wait another second!"

"Alright, let's go then." Said Arthur.

Treble wandered through the net, picking apart viruses with ease. Arthur watched, sending chips as necessary. He managed to pick up a few new chips, some guards and thunders, plus he found a NetDealer and bought the sought-after (though not rare) LongSword. Eventually, he turned to Arthur. "Hey, can we go to the old UnderNet?"

"Uh, I'm not sure that's a good idea..."

"C'mon, I'm way tougher than the other guy!"

"...Fine, but we'll just test the waters today. We'll go to the very edge, and fight one or two viruses to get a feel for their strength. And then we'll jack out. I need to be awake for the tournament."

"Yeah!" Treble gave a fist pump, and ran off in the direction of the old Undernet. Arthur didn't even have to provide directions. It didn't take long to reach the edge of the area.

"Before we go in... how much life do you have right now?"

"325?"

"...Alright. One battle only. I'm not losing you to my own mistakes." Said Arthur firmly.

Treble entered the server. He looked left and right. "Let's go back." He said suddenly, his usual cheer gone.

"I'm not stopping you." Said Arthur.

A new voice rumbled. "You there..."

Arthur nearly screamed at the PET. "Get out of there!"

"...You're so familiar..." Said the voice. "...fight me."

Treble stood rooted by indecision for a moment. He loved battle, but this presence... and a burning question. "Why were you in our homepage earlier?"

Again, the voice sounded. "Power draws me. Now, FIGHT ME! ...I may even let you live, if you struggle well!"

"Emergency logout! You can't risk yourself this way!" Said Arthur. Treble stayed put.

Treble shook his head. "I know this Navi, somehow. Even if I didn't want to fight him with everything I've got... I have to know more!"

"...Your battle lust rivals my own." A dark shadow appeared in front of Treble. It shimmered a little, and then a Navi started to rise out of it. Orange fins crested their helmet, but the rest of their body was hidden by a brown cloak.

Treble started in shock. "I DO know you! But from where... Anyway... Arthur... I've made a big mistake. He's really strong. We don't have anything that'll be able to hurt them apart from... the advance." He said awkwardly.

"I know!" Said Arthur desperately, pulling out all his chips.

"...Struggle well." Said Bass, levelling a buster.

Treble dashed to the side as Buster Rake fired, but it was nowhere near enough. One stray pellet caught him, and his health dropped to 25.

"All Guard chips, in!" Said Arthur frantically.

Treble managed to block the next, lethal shot, as Buster Rake finished discharging. In a millisecond, Bass was in his face with a dark blade in his hand. The first swipe bounced off another Guard, and to Arthur's horrified amazement, Treble seemed to already know where the next one would be, which was behind him. He threw himself forwards to dodge the second cut, and then rolled to dodge the third.

"Hell's rolling." Said Bass.

A pair of black wheels soared from behind him, and Treble activated the next Guard chip. The wheels crashed right through, just clipping his arm. He was thrown back... but not deleted. Bass floated over to Treble's prone form.

"Even though you knew every move I would use. Pathetic... so very pathetic, yet at the same time..." He grabbed Treble by the throat and lifted him. "So interesting. It seems I've fought you far too early. Go, even as Falzar screams a song for your heart on a skewer. I'll be waiting where we first met, in six months time. And do NOT disappoint me." He looked right at Arthur's screen. "Log them out, filth." He dropped Treble.

"Treble, back." Said Arthur. Treble reappeared in the PET.

Treble looked awkwardly to the side.

"How could you do that?!" Said Arthur. "I only just got you, how... how could you be so... so... argh!" He put the PET in standby in frustration.

He set it on the side and looked at it for three long seconds. Arthur buried his face into his bed, and screamed, the sound muffled to a whisper. "Not again. Not again. I will not let it happen again. I don't know who that was, but he can go to hell. I'm NOT going to let it happen again. Not again. Not again." He kept saying, over and over.

Ten minutes passed. Arthur calmed down enough to take a deep breath. He looked at the PET, and started feeling anger again. He turned away. _Just don't think about it. Not for now._

Arthur lay down on his bed, and tried to take his mind off the fight. It had been far beyond one sided. Treble hadn't even had a chance to attack, and had lasted all of four seconds even with guard chips. _No, don't think about it. Anything else. Think about anything else._ Arthur looked at the wall. He focused on individual grains of paint. Each one, in turn. Eventually, he started to calm down.

He sighed, and picked up the PET. He held a hand over the activation button. Arthur was silent as he mulled over whether to turn it back on, but ultimately, he cared about Treble's wellbeing just as much as his own.

Treble was frantic. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Arthur! Arthur!" He saw Arthur's face. "I... I thought you were going to..."

"What?" Said Arthur, trying to keep any emotion out of his voice, frustration seeping in. "Let you get yourself killed?"

Treble took a step back.

Arthur cut himself off. "No. Look... please. Do not EVER pick a fight like that again. That's all. Goodnight, Treble."

"Wait-"

Arthur put the PET back in standby. He sat down on the bed and stared at the PET, feeling awful. It only got worse as time passed. Eventually, he dug out the charger and plugged it in, remembering the tournament tomorrow. _The tournament... will we even stand a chance? We lost so badly to that Navi..._

Time passed. The sun set, and the moon rose. Arthur couldn't sleep. He took out Bug Charge. To nobody in particular, he said "Treble just got carried away... right? Surely... he's not that reckless?" He turned the chip over. "Or is he? I barely know him, even if we're friends..." He dropped it onto his chest. "Maybe it's my duty to counteract that part of him..." He put the chip back into its pack. He sat up, and turned the PET on again. Treble was sitting.

"Are you going to be okay for the tournament tomorrow?" Said Arthur.

Treble looked up mournfully. "Do... you trust me?" His ears were solid, the same buggy hide as the rest of his head, but they still seemed to have drooped a little.

"Wha-" Arthur stopped. "...yes. I trust that you don't mean me any harm, and that you'll try your best and have good reason to hide things from me. I don't trust you not to do stupid things."

"I... okay." Said Treble.

"Look, don't be sad. I'm not going to punish you or anything. Just... next time I give an order not to fight, follow it, okay?" Said Arthur. "We'll never go back to that place, forget what that guy said. We'll find strong viruses elsewhere."

"We can't. That Navi was the one at our homepage, I'm sure of it. He'll come looking. We'll have to face him eventually."

"Then we'll be ready." Arthur was quiet. "Do you trust me?"

"Well... it's hard. It should be easy, right? You stopped me getting deleted. But... it's really hard. The first time I met you... you just went ahead with your coding attempt. I'd never even been scared before. And... I guess that's why I didn't listen then. I... I wanted you to be that scared." Treble turned away. "I'm a terrible Navi. Maybe I shouldn't have been saved."

Arthur sighed. "Just... forget about it. I forgive you. Simple as that. I'm just going to forgive you. Heck, I might even have deserved it. But Treble, one thing."

"Yes?"

"Don't be upset like this tomorrow, it's not like you at all. It'll be a new day. Let's just face it together, without any grudges. Deal?"

"Deal."

"All right! Now. We've got a tournament to win. So... I'm going to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

 **So I should explain why Lan and MegaMan still have BeastOut, including a sizable chunk of Gregar's data despite the fact the cybeasts got absolutely whooped in BN6's last battle: The answer is simple. Powerful programs resist deletion. We see it over and over in the series through Bass, MegaMan getting resurrected WITH his memories (how would those have been inside the backup?) at the end of BN3, and arguably the data ghosts that you get V2, V3 or SP navi chips from in the games. Gospel mostly survives getting an entire server destroyed and then shut down on him in BN2, reappearing in Bass GS. We even see this in real-life data, when it's 'deleted' it can actually be brought back in many cases. The only ways to permanently kill off saved data are to overwrite it (Move something else to where it was saved) or corrupt it (Darkpower, some viruses) _._ So it's not much of a stretch to say that even with Super Colonel-Iris ripping Gregar out of MegaMan and then blowing up the entire area, a lot of Gregar would still persist. This is only half true for Falzar, unlike Gregar, Falzar wouldn't have had a way out of the copybot that's as good as MegaMan's PET, hence some data getting lost before eventually finding its way to Bass to form Bass BX. **

**Also, for those of you wondering how Treble's power is now compared to main characters of the series... (Bass doesn't count, his power's so far ahead that Treble doesn't even register) well, Chaud's looking for a cybeast-like signature.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: Yeah, KingdomRider is on another level entirely. It's always great to see he's updated. At this point, even the tiniest hint of new Mega Man content from Capcom would have me dancing, a whole extra scenario for a BN game would make me explode.**


	7. Chapter 7: Battles

Arthur sat up the second he was conscious. He grabbed the PET off the side of his table and turned it on.

"You're up early!" Said Treble.

Arthur nodded. "I'm... actually excited. To go to school. Let's do this." He threw the duvet to one side, as it made a light thwump against the wall Arthur was already a tornado of clothes, tossing his pyjamas to the floor at maximum speed.

"Don't forget the chips!" Said Treble.

Arthur slipped on a fresh shirt. "Already done, before I went to sleep last night. Win or lose, we're giving it our all. I'm hyped!" He said, throwing his schoolbag over his shoulder. He whisked through the morning routine, inhaled his toast, and was out of the door at the pace of a late guy, despite the fact he was ten minutes early. "Let's hit the chip shop before we get into school. Anything you want?"

"Uh... you're normally not this fiery! I like it, but... Okay, I want some ranged firepower!" Said Treble in confusion.

"Let's do this." Said Arthur, picking up his walking speed. In a matter of minutes, he swept into the shop, making a beeline for the counter. "Ranged firepower. What have you got?"

The cashier looked over their screen. "We have spreaders, Vulcan2, Lavaseed, and PulseBulb."

"I'll take a spreader if you have the E or C code."

"We have a C code, 3500 zenny."

"Yes please."

* * *

ARthur walked into school, looking for his friends. Denny was sitting on a bench. "Hey there Denny!" He called.

"Hey." Said Denny. "How's your Navi?"

"I'm feeling like a million zenny!" Said Treble.

"You ready for the tournament?" Said Arthur.

Denny shrugged. "I wasn't going to enter for a long time. Power makes people notice you. But... PlugMan talked me into it." A tiny smile tugged at his lips.

Arthur laughed "You're just as excited as the rest of us, as hard as you try not to be. What entry number are you? I'm definitely going to watch."

"Uhh... PlugMan, what number are we?"

"Two hundred and thirty five. We're going to be fighting that one kid in the seniors who thinks he's a bigshot. Uh, you know, named his Navi SkillMan?"

Arthur considered it for a moment. "...Yeah, I know the one. Didn't he just make a regular Navi ridiculously impractical to use, on the grounds he was 'such a skilled operator'?"

"Gotta feel bad for them. The Navi." Said Denny. "I will admit, if I can bring them down without dropping my whole 'passive' thing... I will enjoy the laugh."

The bell rang.

* * *

Tournaments that were run during the last week of school provided teachers a valuable way to distract students that had gotten through all their relevant work. If a class was free, and most were, then they could simply tune in to the all-day stream of netbattles between their classmates, leaving to participate as required. Some particularly good ones came up throughout the day, including one match with a certain Navi called MathMan, that rapidly ended with the enemy at swordpoint, and three students standing up and cheering, not at the victory but at the speed it was achieved.

ArsenalMan's match was up next. Arthur, Joe and Denny watched with bated breath. Even if they couldn't hear the operator's callouts, it was clear from the moment they begun that ArsenalMan knew exactly what he was doing. The second that AtlantisWoman, a trident-wielding foe, moved in with AreaSteal, ArsenalMan was behind them, tank gun raised. AtlantisWoman tried to parry the blast of data, but it damaged the trident. They tried to attack with a bubbler, but trying to face ArsenalMan at range could only end one way. They danced around each other's fire for a while, before AtlantisWoman took a volley of gatling shots to the side. A thorough, though not perfect victory.

Just as lunch break was ending, Arthur recieved a notification. 'Your battle is in two matches! Come to the chip shop!'

"Well, we're ready." He said. Five minutes later, he was sitting in one of the shop's comfortable chairs, watching the previous battle come to a close. He looked at the person across from him. Short-cut hair, muscled arms.

They noticed. "You're Arthur?"

"Yeah. Cory?"

"That's me. Quick question, how powerful do you think you are?"

"Um..." Arthur recalled a certain Navi with an orange crest absolutely walking over Treble. "Maybe a tiny bit above average. Not sure really."

"I'm tough!" Said Treble.

Cory laughed. "Alright. Well, let's go find out." The two boys stood up, and walked over to the netbattle machine.

"PlateMan, jack in. Execute."

"Treble, hunt!"

The Navis appeared facing each other, sizing each other up at a glance. PlateMan seemed like a semi-customised Navi, but it was obvious his customisation was defensively oriented. Thick steel-like plates had been wrapped around the ordinary green boots and gauntlets, and they had bolts riveting the fronts together. Perhaps not an extensive customisation, but an intimidating one. PlateMan looked taken aback at Treble's appearance.

"Match, begin!" Called the machine.

PlateMan raised an arm, and a sheet of steel plating rose from the ground as a barrier. Treble skirted around, trying to get in close.

Cory slipped a chip into his PET. "WideBlade, in!"

Arthur smiled. "Alright, VariableSword, in! And... Left down right!" He input the code, and the VariableSword changed shape, to a short but bright blade.

PlateMan dropped the plate that was likely to stop ranged weapons, and the WideBlade formed on his arm. "Yah!" He shouted, making a cut with the blade. Treble stopped going forwards, swinging the VariableSword where it was, and outranging PlateMan. It bit into his armor, but the digital steel held. Treble discarded the sword, and leapt in with claws, as PlateMan tried to fend him back. His armor was tough, but the claws cut in easily, and then the cuts started to jump about. PlateMan clutched his chest, even though it hadn't been hit.

"RockCubes, DrillArm, in!" Said Cory.

"...Spreader! In!"Countered Arthur.

PlateMan hesitated, but summoned two cubes, one near Treble and another near himself. Treble loaded the gun, and vaulted onto the top of one of the cubes, trying to spot PlateMan. The cube suddenly exploded as PlateMan thrust the drill through it, leaving Treble to fall onto the implement. It threw Treble back, more inconvenienced than anything, and Treble formed the spreader. PlateMan raised an arm to block the shot, but nothing happened. Treble blasted him with the weapon, and he staggered back.

"PlateShield's bugged!" He cried.

Cory grunted. "No other way. Meteors, megachip in!"

"ElementBreath, personal chip in!" Said Arthur.

PlateMan pointed to Treble, and instantly many chunks of flaming rock soared down from the sky with trouser-soiling speed. Treble took a few hits from the meteors, each one dealing a nasty bit of damage, but he moved in even as more meteors came down, and blew green flames over PlateMan.

'Forced Logout successful'

Cory looked at the screen in disbelief. "That was... we didn't stand a chance!"

"Good fight." Said Arthur.

"...thanks. Dude, you're way too humble for that much strength. Look, I need you to win the whole thing now so I don't look bad. I told all my friends this was THE way to customise. How much did you even spend on that?" Said Cory.

Arthur shrugged. "Treble's... kind of unique. No shame in losing, right?"

"We did it! We did it!" Said Treble, as the next battlers stepped up.

* * *

After school, Treble was browsing the net as normal. He went through the main square, and was leaving to go to one of the more heavily-viral servers when he saw a familiar Navi down an allyway. "PlugMan! Hey there PlugMan!"

PlugMan flinched, and turned around. A second Navi was just about visible behind him. "Yyyes? Treble?"

Treble jogged over. "Who's this?" He looked at the Navi that had been mostly hidden by PlugMan. Red armor, sword, shades... "Hey, it's one of those Navis that got into a fight in the square!"

ProtoMan's expression didn't change. "Hello. I'm BreakMan. We'd appreciate some privacy."

"Why not just go to Denny's homepage?" Said Treble.

PlugMan flinched again. "Treble please leave now."

"What are you guys doing anyway?"

"TREBLE!" Said PlugMan.

ProtoMan put a hand across PlugMan's chest, and pushed him to one side. "Hold." He looked at Treble. "You're under arrest, for suspicion of relation to a threat to net society. You will follow me." He flashed an Official's ID.

Treble stepped back. "Wait, what?! Why?"

"I'm looking for a signature, and yours is a match to the seventieth percentile. Maybe not perfect, but nobody else in the area is even remotely close." Said ProtoMan.

Arthur sweated. "Treble I took my eyes off you for three seconds, what did you do to... the undercover cop, I guess?"

"He's trying to arrest me for nothing!" Protested Treble.

Before ProtoMan could cut in, PlugMan raised a hand. "Just go with him. He'll clear you fast enough."

"...Okay, fine." Said Treble. ProtoMan warped to an area. Treble followed the link.

It came out in a spacious area. Treble looked around. "Where is this?"

ProtoMan looked at Treble. "Hold still, while we analyse you. And answer my questions. First, name?"

"Treble."

"Manufacturer?"

"Um... Arthur? Can I say? Arthur?" Said Treble.

There was no response. "He's blocked here. I highly doubt it's confidential." Said ProtoMan.

"Well... it is. I need express permission from a high ranking official. Like, really top of the pile, best-in-business, professional secretkeeper or something." Insisted Treble. For a moment, he heard some kind of whispering in the distance.

"There is a reason I'm called BreakMan." ProtoMan levelled his sword. "I suggest you tell me exactly who made you, or I'll rip the data out of you, likely convict you of multiple crimes against Electopia, and then delete you."

Treble could have sworn he heard the whispering voice giving the Navi in front of him instructions. 'The viral analysis is positive. Delete them.'

"Yes sir." Said ProtoMan. He swung his sword with precision, and without warning, but was sursprised to see it parried by Treble's claws.

"Hey! What are you doing!" He shouted.

"Virus!" Accused ProtoMan.

"I'm a Navi now!" Yelled Treble, dodging another sword stroke by mere millimetres. "Fine, you want a fight? I'll gladly destroy you!" He made a swipe for ProtoMan's chest, but his attack bounced off a shield.

ProtoMan fired a sonicboom, but Treble's speed just allowed him to dodge it. A glowing golden sword appeared on ProtoMan's arm, and he swung it fast, catching Treble's shoulder with the tip. It hurt massively, the HeroSword cutting through like there was nothing there. Still, this gave Treble the opening he needed to swing in and scrape ProtoMan across the chest. Unlike earlier, this time he was pulling no punches with the amount of bugs he was trying to inflict. To his amazement, his foe barely seemed fazed when his centre of gravity appeared to alter, sending his balance off. Immediately, Treble followed through with a heavier slash, and ProtoMan's parry failed while he was adjusting to the new balance. The claw caught him across the emblem. ProtoMan staggered back, and formed a green variable sword.

Treble growled, backing off. "I need a chip!"

No answer came from Arthur. But...

"Barrier 200, in." Said a tired voice.

Treble activated the bubble just as a Neo sonic boom crashed into it. "Who?"

"BreakMan? Can you hear me? They're innocent." Said the voice.

ProtoMan tapped the side of his helmet. "Loud and clear, but evidence shows they're a virus, and we can't risk a Cybeast running loose, especially on the word of someone that knows them."

"Figured you'd say that." Said the voice. "Hey. Treble."

"Me?" Said Treble.

"I'm opening a channel to your operator. I hope he has a way to prove your maker, and quickly." There was a click.

"Treble! Damn, your health's low... Alright, who did this? Where are they?" Said Arthur.

"Operator! Identify your Navi's manufacturer, now." Said ProtoMan.

"I can't do that. Wait, I can, to a degree anyway. But why should I if you just dragged my Navi off to some side server and beat them up on a whim? You're probably not even a cop." Said Arthur irately.

"No, tell them. Some mysterious guy gave me a barrier when I needed it, and it seemed pretty important to them that they know." Said Treble.

"We're sworn to secrecy! We'd be jailed if I _did_ tell them. And even so, going back on your word's a scummy way to repay someone... Hey, red Navi! Prove you're a cop, I'll give you a number you can call. They should be able to confirm my Navi's innocent."

ProtoMan held the Official ID up.

"Alright, have your NetOp call this. They should be able to clear us." Arthur sent Lan's number.

ProtoMan immediately stepped back and lowered his sword in confusion. "How did you get this number?!"

"You know Lan too?" Said Arthur.

"Why would Lan Hikari be able to clear your name?!" Said ProtoMan. "Never mind. We're calling now..."

ProtoMan was silent for a while.

Treble looked at him. "Well?"

"You're free to go. That was certainly a waste of time..." Said ProtoMan. "Aside from that, welcome to the investigation team looking for SheepMan. We'll leave this area to you, you're... capable enough." He staggered to the left, as if drunk.

"Oh heck, you're still bugged. Uh, BreakMan's NetOp? You might have to log him out." Said Treble.

"It's nothing." Said ProtoMan. "And since we might meet again, you should know. BreakMan is just an alias. I'm ProtoMan. Next time we fight, I'll be ready. As will you, I hope." He logged out.

Treble was left alone in the server. "So... I wonder who that was, that let you connect here?"

"Me." Said a voice behind him. Treble turned to see PlugMan.

"PlugMan? But... how would you have been able to intervene in official matters?" Said Arthur. "Wait. Denny said he can't talk about his job. Is he... is he an Official?"

"Professional police informant, and information gatherer." Said PlugMan. "If you want dirt on someone, then we'll find it. And of course, to get information, you need connections. We have the codes to our local station's server. Don't let that spread, or we'll be out of a job before you can blink."

"Okay." Said Treble. "But if you're good at finding out about stuff... then there's a question I really need to ask you."

"For a price. No special treatment, you understand." Said PlugMan.

Arthur looked to Treble. "Are you going to ask him about that Navi from yesterday? I'll admit, if you think a rematch is inevitable then knowing more about him seems useful."

"Okay, PlugMan. Do you know any really powerful Navis that have large orange crests on their head, and black and gold armor?" Said Treble.

PlugMan frowned. "Well, I know of one, but if you're planning to fight them I can't tell you in good conscience. I do care about your life."

Treble shook his head. "We got attacked by them yesterday. They beat me in seconds, and nearly deleted me, but they let me go and said I had to come and face them again when I was more powerful."

"...Brown cloak?" Asked PlugMan.

"Yeah."

"How are you even alive." He deadpanned. "Let's go back to my server. I can't guarantee nobody's listening here."

In Denny's homepage, PlugMan paced. "You encountered the legendary solo Navi, Bass. Depending on the legends you believe, he's capable of destroying all cyberworld with one finger, defeated 100 navis in 0.2 seconds with one hand, and has half of cybeast Falzar locked inside him. Probably all false, but rumors have to start somewhere."

"Well, the last one is true. He mentioned something about Falzar screaming for my heart on a stick when he knocked me down." Said Treble.

"Good to know. Some people would pay a small fortune for that information." Said PlugMan. "Anyway, what I can tell you is that in the undernet -The current one, not the abandoned one, even the strongest criminals fear the name Bass. He's incredibly dangerous, have zero qualms about killing, and have myriad abilities. And... you picked a fight with him. I'm sorry, but you're done for."

Arthur's heart sank. "Do you have any idea how we could oppose them? We won't roll over and die."

"The only Navi known to have beaten Bass more than once is MegaMan. The first battle battle nearly killed him. The second nearly brought down an entire section of the cyberworld. Although rumors hint that that might not be the actual first time they faced off." Said PlugMan. "You know Lan Hikari somehow. Me and Denny won't probe, but I recommmend you ask him."

Treble remained fairly happy. "I'm... kinda looking forwards to it. I mean, I don't want to get deleted, but I enjoyed fighting him. It was a pretty big rush."

Arthur clapped a hand over his face. "Seriously? It lasted four seconds and you didn't even get to attack..."

"Yeah! Especially since we might be able to put up a fight this time." Said Treble.

PlugMan frowned. "I could dig around for more information on him... but you do understand, that Denny needs to eat and I need a NetOp I can trust. It'll cost you."

"How much?" Said Arthur.

"We charge by area, and since this'll be Undernet exploration... Oh? Hold on... Denny doesn't mind discounting it for you. He'll investigate for a week for twenty thousand Zenny."

"I don't know how good you are... but you kept this all pretty well hidden, so you must be competent. Okay. Do you take the payment upfront?" Said Arthur. "Man, that's a pretty big chunk of my savings..." he whispered.

"Yes. We'll get to work immediately." Said PlugMan.

"Okay, I'm sending the Zenny to Treble now." Said Arthur.

A gold coin appeared in Treble's hands. "Here you go!" He passed it to PlugMan.

"Alright. We'll report findings to your Email daily. Don't read them anywhere that you might be found out." Said PlugMan. He ran off to one of the links in his page, disappearing.

Treble spent the night virus busting.

* * *

The following morning, Arthur opened his Email.

'From: Denny

Bass appears to reside in the most inaccessible areas of the net, holding a mastery over creation of portal-like links that allow him to be anywhere at anytime. Assume no page is safe. Also, it's apparent that he wears that cloak to hide that he has no Navi mark. The reason he wasn't given one is unknown.

Also, not as a businessman but as your friend Denny, how are you feeling about today's tournament match? You're up against one of the teachers. They're not fantastic battlers, but still intimidating.'

"Morning, Treble..." Said Arthur, yawning.

"Morning! We're up against that one science teacher today!"

Arthur went through the usual morning routine, and wound up in school, watching the rest of the first round conclude. He couldn't help glancing back at Denny every so often, wondering just what battlechips he might have. Chances were he was far stronger than he'd been letting on, if he could just explore the Undernet without worry. Early in the day, the first round of battles concluded, and the second round started. 128 contestants left, 64 battles.

Before long, Treble got the notification from the chip shop. 'Your match starts soon! Good luck!'

Arthur flashed the notification to the teacher, and jogged out of the room. It was a nice day outside, the slightly cloudy sky giving some much-appreciated shade. Arthur noticed one of the teachers coming to the gates at the same time. "Are you going to be my opponent?" Said Arthur.

"Huh? Oh, the tournament. You're Arthur?" Said the woman. She was probably in her thirties, with frizzy black hair tied back.

"Yeah. What science do you teach? You must be one of the specialised teachers, if I haven't had lessons from you before." Said Arthur.

"I'm the head of physics. I'm in this for my little kids, so don't even think I'll go easy on you." Said the teacher.

"No hard feelings if I win, though?" Said Arthur.

"As long as you don't cheat."

Ten minutes later, they were opposite each other with the Netbattle machine between them.

"Treble, hunt!"

"SpatialWoman, jack in!"

As expected, Treble sized up the enemy. This time, it was a Navi with fairly extensive customisation, but still recognisibly a basic Navi under all that. A flowing dark blue curtain came out from the back of the helmet, constellations of stars recognisable inside it. The jumpsuit followed the same patterning, and the arms and legs had plating that looked like telescopes. The chestplate had a crest like the underside of a space shuttle.

SpatialWoman brushed a hand across her chest once. "Custom job, huh? Shame you got more bugs than a pirated translator." Noting the telltale yellow dots across Treble's 'skin'.

"...Space is boring." replied Treble, trying to think of a comeback.

'Battle, begin!' Called the arena.

"Navi chip in, ChillMan!" Called the teacher.

"Navi chip in, ArsenalMan!" Said Arthur.

Ghostly copies of each Navi appeared beside Treble and SpatialWoman. Arthur was about to question how she had a ChillMan chip, then realised the operator probably went to this school once. ArsenalMan's copy let loose a round of gatling fire and two tank shots that caught SpatialWoman in the arm, while ChillMan swung an enormous crystalline arm of ice towards Treble, knocking him back. Shaking off the injuries, the two Navis prepared to fight.

It became clear SpatialWoman was a very balanced fighter as they started to engage in combat. While many Navis had trouble striking at long range, SpatialWoman created large glowing orbs with connecting lines that Arthur could only assume were constellations, that did a very effective job at keeping Treble at a distance. He tried to jump over them, but miniture shooting stars suddenly came at him when he did. Treble was trapped, and if SpatialWoman had a good ranged attack he was in trouble...

"Hmm..." Arthur reached for his chips.

Palpable smugness in her voice, the teacher slid in a battlechip. "Anti-chip, and Asteroid2, in."

"Ah, I've got it." Said Arthur. _StepSword. They were selling them in the shop a while back, and it would let Treble get out of this. So that must be AntiSword..._ "AreaSteal and Guard chips, in."

Smiling, the teacher put in another chip. "Otenko, in."

 _...Never heard of that one before._

Treble felt the data register. Aware time would be limited before SpatialWoman did something, he took a look around the room and blinked in the direction of the widest open space. Less chance of getting cornered. He blinked, and then realised the Guard chip was probably to ensure a safe entry. He was right.

"Asteroids!" Yelled SpatialWoman. Treble guarded, and the first few hits bounced off, but a few other Otenko-boosted rounds of asteroid tore into his armor. Damaged all over, Treble lunged, and went to work with his claws. SpatialWoman dodged the first swipe, but the next two connected, instantly dealing heavy damage. Arthur gave the health of each Navi a quick check. Treble had a hundred and twenty five after that super tornado hit, and SpatialWoman fifty. It seemed she had a low maximum health.

"All right, three Vulcan1's in. Program advance, Infinite Vulcan!" Said Arthur.

"Reflector3 in!"

Treble felt the massive program prime itself. But at the same time, he knew Reflector3 would have no trouble defeating him. He formed the gun carefully, and pointed it. And he had an idea. Or was it a memory? He wasn't sure. He pointed the super weapon to the side and fired. As expected, SpatialWoman used the reflector to block nothing, and that was the opening Treble needed to discard the InfiniteVulcan and deliver one finishing blow across the Navi's chest.

'SpatialWoman, forced logout successful.'

"All right! Good going, Treble." Said Arthur.

The teacher just looked dejectedly off to one side. "Uch, some kids have way too much money these days. Anyway, I _do_ have to respect you apparently working out I had an AntiFire in there, everyone seems to just assume it's an AntiNavi. Best of luck, Arthur, Treble."

"Well played, students." Said SpatialWoman.

Arthur and Treble spent the rest of the day in halfhearted classes, talking with all their friends. Arthur still couldn't look at Denny the same way. Eventually, Arthur realised there was something to ask.

"Hey guys? Is it possible for a Navi to dream?" Said Arthur.

"Hmm. I'm not really sure. You could definitely program it, dreams ARE just a mishmash of what you see in the day and your subconscious. Whether anyone has though..." Said Joe.

"But... ArsenalMan, do you think you have a subconscious?" Said William.

"Affirmative sir, at least to a degree! It is hard to confirm this, sir." Said ArsenalMan.

Arthur looked down. "But it's definitely possible. Right?"

"Yes."

"Treble... are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Said Arthur.

"I'm not a mind reader. I'm just thinking about that combo. We should use it more! I like other me." Replied Treble.

"Alright, tinfoil hat on- I'm thinking SheepMan might have some kind of trick with inducing dreams in a Navi. Because of the tradition of counting sheep. And maybe we could try and get them to contact you by knocking you out. Maybe you could learn something from the conversation?" Said Arthur.

"Um. I don't want to be knocked out."

"Not even if we do it by using the combo?"

"...not really, no."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "SheepMan? What are you guys talking about?"

Arthur opened his mouth, and realised now was a bad time to have said anything. "Ah."

William shrugged. "If it's about the thing when you had Treble debugged, don't worry. We've all known Denny's job for a long time, and we had enough money between us to find out what went down. We've been dying to bring it up, honestly. Trying to catch up to the kidnapper?"

Arthur's eyes nearly popped out in shock. "This stuff is super secret!"

"But are you? We'd be happy to help out." Said Joe.

"What if you get your Navis deleted? Treble's a really strong special Navi-"

"Thanks!"

"-but you guys... you're strong, of course, maybe the strongest in school which is why I wanted a more powerful Navi anyway, but... are you sure you can go up against a Navi that doesn't fear SciLabs?" Said Arthur.

William nodded. "ArsenalMan and I have got nothing special, but we've got our discipline and we've trained every day. More than most can claim."

Joe smiled. "Need I remind you that MathMan and me can still kick your butt in a netbattle? I'm totally up for helping you. Just don't tell the officials."

Arthur laughed. "You are _the_ best. Now, where would be the best location to knock out one of our Navis? Any suggestions, you three?"

MathMan simply considered coolly. "Location is unimportant. According to the official report, only the kidnapped program was contacted. If it were by location, half of scilabs would have seen SheepMan."

"So in that case... it's the Navi that matters." Concluded Treble. "Oh, I'm going to get KO'd aren't I?"

"We will defend you, ally!" Said ArsenalMan.

MathMan nodded. "Joe, when can we meet up tonight?"

"I don't have any plans. This is going to be interesting."

Arthur looked to Treble. "Are you okay with this? I might have trouble sending you battlechips if you get attacked."

"Yeah. He might not even contact me. Sure I'm a one-of-a-kind Navi, with criminal ties and no guarantee of loyalty that would be a huge asset to anyone, but... I don't know Eurasia's standards." Shrugged Treble, humble-bragging.

"Eurasia?" Said Denny. "Huh. Guess that rumor was correct, after all. Keep that name to yourselves, guys."

Arthur rested a hand over his face. "Please be more careful what you say..."

* * *

Later, all three Navis were sitting in Arthur's homepage.

"Okay, so... put me into standby, then." Said Treble.

Arthur nodded. "I'll just open NaviCust... uh. I forgot, we don't have one. I suppose I'll have to do it manually... does anyone know how?"

"Open the menus, select Commands: Standby from them. It'll give Treble an option he can accept." Said MathMan.

Arthur tapped in the code. "Why does this exist?"

"In case your Navi's severely bugged and can't logout. Useful for repairs on the field!" Said ArsenalMan.

Treble fainted.

MathMan caught him before he could fall over. "Probably wouldn't be too comfortable landing on those... crest things you have." He said to the unconscious Navi.

"They're flexible." Said ArsenalMan.

MathMan carefully lifted one. "You're right. They're actually soft. Like some kind of mane."

"I don't think Treble would appreciate that." Said Arthur sternly.

"Yes, I suppose..." MathMan set Treble down. "I- ah!" He looked around wildly. "Did you just feel something?"

ArsenalMan gave a confirmatory nod. "Something's coming. Something dangerous. Battle formation!"

The two navis dropped into fighting stances either side of Treble. A dark shadowy mass appeared in front of them. Arthur swore.

"Guys, logout. We can't win this fight." Said Arthur.

Bass emerged from the portal, brown cloak flapping. He raised an eyebrow. "All this way for nothing? I... did expect a reasonable opponent if something had rendered Gospel unconscious. You, guardians. Fight me."

ArseanMan gave a single, military shake of his head. "We must guard our ally while he is prone."

Bass raised a hand, which started glowing purple. "Guard him, then. Anything for a something that could resemble a fight." He threw a small purple sphere of fire towards Treble.

MathMan leapt into the air and cut it in half. "We don't have a choice, Joe. Resolving combat!"

ArsenalMan readied himself as well.

Arthur nearly exploded. "Guys, just jack out! You can't beat him!"

MathMan brung down his sword, and ArsenalMan shot a rocket. Both bounced off a glowing golden aura. ArsenalMan grunted. "It's a very powerful aura, and I don't see an element. William, I need NorthWind." Bass rushed in to cut at ArsenalMan, and scored a direct hit with his darkness blade, but it wasn't enough to delete.

"NorthWind!" Said ArsenalMan. Instantly, the aura flickered and died. MathMan rushed in to harry him with his sword before Bass could make another cut at ArsenalMan.

Bass backpedalled calmly into the air, and produced two cannons. "Buster rake." He said in a bored voice.

MathMan shouted. "RockCube! Quintuple use!" Five cubes formed a wall between the groups of Navis. The buster shots ruined three, but the Navis behind were unharmed.

Bass raised an eyebrow. "...Perhaps I'll stop toying with you. You're stronger than I expected."

In the blink of an eye, Bass was past MathMan with his blade in one hand and buster in another. Arthur looked frantically between the two allied Navis.

ArsenalMan's body was shining, the front extremely damaged. "The guard... just broke..." He said through gritted teeth.

MathMan's stylised sword dissolved. His hand did not replace it.

Bass simply sighed. "DAMN IT." He dispelled his weapons. "You put up a better fight than most Navis in the Undernet, but you're still nowhere near as strong as the ones I want to fight! I need strong foes to fight, if I ever want to gain the power to defeat MegaMan. But I just can't find any!"

MathMan and ArsenalMan were struggling to stand. MathMan had a LongSword chip on his intact hand. ArsenalMan was shakily holding a buster. Bass simply walked up to them and pushed them over. He placed a foot on top of MathMan's chest and pointed his buster at ArsenalMan.

"I used to just delete anyone that faced me... But now I know I need you to be strong enough I might gain something first. You damn weaklings will learn strength, or die!" A portal opened as Bass ranted. "Begone! Survive if you can. Either way, your weakening dependency is no more!" He picked up the battered bodies of the two Navis like they weighed nothing, and hurled them through the portal.

Arthur sat in shocked silence, waiting for Bass to follow them. Instead, he glared up at the screen. "When your Navi wakes, I will fight them. I do NOT find your false alarm funny."

"What did he ever do to you?" Said Arthur.

"He sided with you over us. I would have thought that he of all Navis might see the inevitable demise humanity guides us towards." Said Bass.

Arthur thought quickly. "I... might not be able to convince you to listen to me... but I might be able to help us both out. There's a Navi called SheepMan. They're part of an organisation powerful enough to attack SciLabs. If you were to go after them, you might get your fight. And it would get a big problem out of our way, so we could focus on getting stronger to fight you."

Bass smirked with what little of his face was visible over his cloak. "And there it is. What humans do best. Selling each other out for personal gain. You know, I actually caught one earlier whose entire job was based around that."

Arthur glared defiantly. "No. This is discarding the few for the many. SheepMan and his allies might threaten all of net society if left unchecked. We can't leave them be." He put two and two together about the earlier statement. "Oh jeez. How!?"

"They're not deleted. Strong, close to the level that the officials have. But... still, so very weak. Why does weakness run so deep in so many of you humans? Why do you taint your Navis with it?!"

Arthur shrugged. "Most of us simply don't care for power. Is it weakness if it is never relevant?" He felt he was running out of ways to keep Bass talking. His eyes were still on the unclosed portal behind him, in desperate hope.

"And that is why you will destroy all Navis. Your complacency invites disaster. Only through strength, and victory in battle can you be secure- can a Navi know that their future is truly safe!" Bass ranted.

Arthur quietly opened a text box on his PET, and started typing. "Maybe. But... why do you hate humanity, then? Why not rally people behind your strength, to become stronger themselves? We created Navis. They're linked to us. If we try to make our Navis stronger, I'm sure we can."

"Because you're backstabbers. Strength is meaningless when someone attacks if your guard is down."

Arthur looked at his message. 'Treble. Bass attacked. Go through portal. Find Arsenal + Math + Plug(?) if they R not delete. B safe.'

He looked at the timer for the induced unconsciousness. Seven seconds left. Arthur quietly slotted in BugCharge, ElementBreath and VariableSword. Up up, down down, left-right left-right B A. He sent the message.

Treble's eyes snapped open, and immediately, he transformed. Bass was barely fazed, even as his cloak was blown back and GS-Treble filled up a giant area. He roared, and dived through the portal without a word.

Arthur feigned surprise at the blank PET screen. "Treble! No, he'll have the advantage there! Treble?"

Bass frowned. "Maybe I was wrong about him. Or perhaps he can sense the others in there. Either way... Navis can only trust other Navis. This proves it: we do not need humanity. Goodbye, filth."

To Arthur's horror, he turned and went through the portal, closing it behind himself.

* * *

In a far-back server in the undernet, ArsenalMan was truly displaying valor to make a general salute. Even on the brink of deletion, he fired relentlessly into the oncoming viruses, his guns blazing and his body shielding the prone MathMan.

MathMan was searching around for a weapon. without his standard blade, he only had one use of this LongSword and then he would be helpless. He just needed some kind of weapon...

And then, to the immense relief, and shock of both Navis, a cyber wolf ten times their size jumped down from behind them, and toasted a whole wave of the viruses with elemental breath.

"Is... you?" ArsenalMan choked. He frowned, and tapped his throat. "Voi... dama... ed."

MathMan stood up. "Treble?"

"YEAH! GLAD YOU DIDNT GO ANYWHERE!" Said Treble. "WHERE'S PLUGMAN?"

"We haven't seen him anywhere. He wasn't with us." Said MathMan. "We should retreat to our PET's. More viruses will inevitably find us soon."

Treble moved his giant head to look at where he entered the server. Nothing was there. "ONE WAY PORTAL. I REMEMBER THOSE. I THINK?"

MathMan grimaced. "I see. I'll admit I could use my earlier bravado now. How tough are you like that? We'll be counting on you. I'm helpless without my weapon. ArsenalMan is going to be deleted if anything else so much as touches him."

Treble looked around. It was a small server, with only one entrance. "WHERE IS THIS ANYWAY? A RANDOM BIT OF UNDERNET?"

MathMan smiled. "It's called... Oh. Hah. BassHome. Maybe he forgot to change the destination in his anger."

"No." Said Bass.

MathMan stepped back. "Treble, run. He was just toying with us and we were overwhelmed. Even now, you can't possibly-"

"I KNOW! I'VE FOUGHT HIM TOO. BUT I WON'T ABANDON YOU."

Bass held up a single palm for silence. He got it. "I want to grow stronger. To do that, you need to grow stronger. Even now, when I've blocked your links to your PETs, you're still weak. Albeit because you have the weakness of dependency built into two of you. And you, Treble- ach!" He flinched. "D-damn it! Not now... I won't be denied by her, of all things! You three! Get out, quickly! Falzar is... reacting to Gospel's presence! And I can't... kill you now!" He dropped to the floor, clutching his cloak to himself. "A-aagh! Falzar! Cant you see... Agh!"

Treble turned towards the exit, and lowered his tail to the floor. "CLIMB ON. TRY NOT TO GET BUGGED TO DEATH." MathMan pulled ArsenalMan out of a fascinated stupor, and threw him towards Treble, and he climbed onto his back fairly quickly. MathMan jumped on himself, fear overcoming lack of a hand quite well. He felt his remaining hand almost fracturing at the touch, and realised ArsenalMan's core coding could be exposed to Treble's raw hide if he fell over forwards. At least as Navis, they didn't have to worry about bleeding unless a bug induced a HP drain.

"Go Treble! GO!" Said MathMan, finally losing his composure.

Treble set off at a bound, leaving the page in a second. It opened into a mazelike area, but to MathMan's delight Treble was large enough to simply step over the gaps in the floor, and bypass a large section of the maze altogther. There was a loud, avian shriek behind them. MathMan turned to see Bass, but... with some kind of new form? He'd sprouted orange wings, his gauntlets were plated in new, white and dark orange armor and he apparently had talons on his feet. And he was flying right for them. MathMan stood shakily, and readied the LongSword. Bass swooped in, and as cool as could be MathMan swung the LongSword.

Bass raised a hand in a flash, and the blade shattered against it, but a missile crashed into his face at the same time, forcing him to lose momentum for lack of vision.

MathMan turned to ArsenalMan. The Navi was barely holding on. No missiles were left now. Bugs were obviously starting to creep into his core code. His arm went limp, and he started to fall off as Treble continued to run. MathMan crouched and steadied him. "Treble. ArsenalMan can't take any more. Get through here, and then we need to dismount."

"OKAY." said Treble. Bass clearly wasn't following them anymore. He leapt through one last link, and came out in another area of the Undernet, this time with large areas of flooring. Treble lay down, allowing MathMan to take ArsenalMan off. "NOW WHAT?"

"We... need to leave the Undernet, I guess. At least nobody will pick a fight with you. What's your HP?"

"ABOUT A THOUSAND. IT GETS A BOOST."

"Okay... I hope you can heal."

ArsenalMan got to their feet. "P... e-E... T... W... e..." he stopped, head spinning.

MathMan understood the idea. "PET. We should recall. Are... we actually still being blocked from jacking out? Oh, that's the default term. Oops."

Treble sniffed at ArsenalMan. "HE'S NOT! I BUGGED UP HIS BLOCKADE, SO IT'S NOT WORKING! I MIGHT ALSO HAVE DONE SOME DAMAGE TO HIS OTHER PROGRAMS..."

MathMan smiled. "Go. We'll be okay, soldier. Treble fits in here, and I'm tough enough to make it out of range of the block."

ArsenalMan nodded, and logged out.

"SO... ARE YOU OKAY TO RIDE?"

"No. I'm... I lied. I'm not going to be okay. You can probably see it. The bugs... I've got a bad one in my central coding. If I get another, I'll simply stop running." Admitted MathMan. "And I can't fight, either."

"I HAVE A CRAZY IDEA. MAYBE A BAD ONE. BUT AN IDEA."

"Go on. Be quick though. We'll see a virus soon enough."

"WHAT IF I ATE YOU?" Said Treble. "SCILABS COULD PICK YOU OUT OF MY CODE LATER. OH, THAT GIVES ME ANOTHER IDEA! GOT ANY BUGFRAGS?"

"...I actually do. I have five here. What for?" Said MathMan.

"APPARENTLY AFTER I EAT ENOUGH, I'll SPIT OUT A CHIP! I FEEL LIKE I'M CLOSE. MAYBE WE'LL GET A RECOVER CHIP?"

"Okay." MathMan took out the BugFrags. "Eat up."

Treble swallowed all five in one bite. "...OKAY! HERE IT COMES!" He coughed, and as promised, a chip came out of his mouth.

MathMan picked it up. "It looks like... oh my god. FolderBack. Some people would kill for this."

"BUT NOT A RECOVER CHIP."

"...no."

"WELL THEN, TWO OPTIONS. TRY AND BUG YOUR BLOCK, OR GET EATEN." Said Treble.

MathMan looked down. "By my calculations... I can manage to give my block a bug." He said eventually. He looked up, and carefully selected a very specific spot on the back of his head. "Wish me luck?"

"YEAH. SORRY I GOT YOU INTO THIS. IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST..."

"No worries." MathMan rested his head against Treble's leg, and logged out. Treble looked in amazement, and realised he was free to leave the Undernet. Nobody could stop him. They certainly couldn't chase for two minutes. With a howl, be bounced across the Undernet, to freedom.

* * *

Back in Arthur's PET safely, the first thing Treble (now normal again) saw was Arthur sobbing in relief.

"I'm gonna have a heart attack because of you one day." Said Arthur. "I could really hug you right now."

"It's okay! I did my best." Said Treble. He dropped his happiness. "Are... the others okay?"

Arthur sighed. "ArsenalMan's core coding is bugged to hell, and entire sections of his data need replacing. But his memory is intact. MathMan just has one bad bug to get out after the auto-healing, and he came out of it with the arguably most powerful chip in existence. Oh, and I mailed Denny. PlugMan is alright, he didn't get captured earlier."

"We don't get to keep that FolderBack?!" Said Treble.

"We can't use more than one Giga chip per battle. And we have BugCharge, which we need for the Origin advance."

"And... I guess MathMan gave me the food for it."

"Yeah. Now... I'm going to bed. You'll understand if I don't let you online without supervision right now?"

"Yes. I'll see you in the morning? OH, I ALMOST FORGOT!"

"You too, hah. Wait, what?"

"SheepMan talked to me. Long story short... I know where I can find him!"

 **Author's note: And after a long delay due to visiting a friend, I put out a long, long chapter. Enjoy!**

 **Reviewer responses!**

 **RushAlias: Will try!**

 **JaneValentine007: Bass is beyond overpowered here. I'm still debating whether I'll ever allow Treble to beat him, even after the Euraisa business concludes.**

 **Heat Beast all the way for crosses.**

 **Sounds like a broken save battery. Open up the cartridge, take out the battery (It will be a small disc), clean the connectors if they're dirty, and put in a new one. Game should work again.**

 **No such thing as typing too much. I'm just responding shortly here becasue it's 1:20 AM.**

 **Would be utterly stoked to get Fanart.**


	8. Chapter 8: Joining

"Where?!" Said Arthur.

"He tried to convince me to go and meet him at the SciLab server. Which is totally a setup, he'd never go there, and I called him out for it. So then he laughed, and said that I could actually meet him at an Electopia online chip shop. The one nearer to the old Undernet entrance. He's... kind of strange." Said Treble, tail wagging.

Arthur gave a small nod. "Well, we'll go there... did he give you a date?"

"Nah. Probably has a lookout there." Said Treble.

Arthur thought. "We'll have to be careful not to walk into a trap. And..." He yawned. "...more of the tournament tomorrow. I hope the others can still fight in it after today."

"Well, MathMan's got my FolderBack." huffed Treble. "Not that I don't mind him having it, just..."

Arthur was already half-asleep.

* * *

In the morning, Arthur realised he had an email from Denny.

'We ran into some trouble investigating Bass. Not much to report this time, although there is a lot we're chasing up. Incidentally, there was a rumor that a cybeast came out of one of the most dangerous corners of the UnderNet, and then disappeared after reaching the regular net. The UnderNet thinks it's the second coming or something.

We found that Bass has a program that protects him from the harmful effects of many dangerous types of data. Notably DarkPower, although there isn't much left of that. It also protects against induced bugs and apparently a program known as 'Gigafreeze'... but I'm not sure what that is. It does explain how he's lasted so long alone.'

Arthur sat up and stretched. "Treble. You ready for the day?"

"Yeah! Come on, our foes won't destroy themselves!" Said Treble.

* * *

In school, the first thing Arthur did was find William. "William! William! Is ArsenalMan okay?!" He yelled, spotting him near his locker.

William brought out his PET. "Kind of scarred. It was worse than the automatic recovery the PET has could handle. I took out the programs that aren't working for now, so... he looks a bit beat up."

ArsenalMan looked out from the screen. One of his two gatling guns was missing, on the left. His right side, but not his left was covered by a clean white cloak that tied around his neck, and reached down to his thigh. He brushed it to one side to reveal a missing arm, and severe corrosion-like damage on his bodyarmor. 'Voice data gone. Using text box for now. Also some personality damage. Still remember you.' He wrote.

Treble flinched. "It's my fault!"

Arthur silenced him. "No. It's Bass' fault. Maybe before I didn't want to fight him if we could avoid it, but now, I agree with you Treble. We have to get stronger, and stop him." He said quietly. He focused on William. "William... I'm sorry. I should have realised that what I did would catch his attention, and then I should have just shut the server when he appeared. Will ArsenalMan recover?"

William shrugged. "I know you didn't mean any harm... but I don't know, Arthur. Treble saved his life by taking him out of the UnderNet, but the bugs have damaged him in a lot of ways, some that I'll never be able to root out. Either way, he's a soldier, and I'll be one too someday, like my father and his father. We both knew this was a possibility, and we'll still fight until the end. A missing arm means nothing, I can fix that and his guns by tomorrow, but the personality damage..." William sighed. "Sorry. I shouldn't talk like that. I'll have you back in working order in no time, ArsenalMan."

'Good.' Pinged ArsenalMan.

Arthur grimaced. "If there's anything I can do to apologise properly..."

"Got any chips for bugged Navis? Could let us pull through this round in the tournament." Said William.

Arthur intantly reached for his BugCharge, safe in his pack. "Treble, we can go without... _it_ for six hours, right?"

"You're giving him THAT?" Said Treble. "...Seriously, are we just Giga chip dispensers or something?"

Arthur placed the chip in William's hands. "Please be careful with it. We need it for the program advance that lets Treble transform."

"A giga chip. Wow." Said William.

"It needs ten seconds to warm up after the data is recieved. Don't use it before then, or it'll do nothing." Warned Arthur.

"Understood. We'll return it after the fight."

The bell rang.

In class, the first thing Arthur did was shuffle over to Joe. "How's MathMan doing?"

Joe smiled. "Pretty good, honestly. I was able to totally restore his combat functionality. The only issue is that he has a bug making him appear as a virus to Mr. Progs. Nothing else, oddly. Just Mr. Progs."

"Do you have the FolderBack?" Asked Treble.

"Yeah! Thank you for that. We never thought we'd be able to get a chip this good. I'm just waiting to unleash my killer combo now. I have a Poltergeist chip, and five summons. Double those summons, and welcome to pain city!" Said Joe.

In the school network, Treble was uncomfortably close to MathMan. "You smell great!" He said.

MathMan kept a perfectly straight face. "...thanks, but I'm still going to get your bug removed. Could you take a little step back, too?"

"Okay!"

* * *

The day proceeded normally, with Arthur on constant lookout for one of his friends in a battle. Round three was actually heating things up with the terrain alterations. Fire and water Navis in particular were having an easy time against others, while grass versus fire was completely unfair. Steel and ice stages were also occasionally loaded, and one Navi was given a poison stage. At about ten in the morning, William was up.

ArsenalMan stood with silent dignity, the white cloak hanging smoothly. The area changed. Steel flooring for ArsenalMan, and magnetic flooring for his foe. Combat began. Arthur panned the camera program to get a look at the enemy. A well-customised foe, with completely original armor prickling with the small lights that might adorn a carnival ride. He naturally moved more quickly and just as precisely over the magnetic flooring, where non-electric Navis would have been tossed this way and that. He dashed in near to ArsenalMan, and swung a LongSword with alarming speed. ArsenalMan barely reacted, letting the enemy get near save for a single step backwards, causing the hasty LongSword to miss entirely. In the blink of an eye, he raised his remaining cannon and blasted the enemy, sending them back from the force. Before they had a chance to recover, he threw out a ZapRing and opened fire with his miniture gatling gun, chipping away at the enemy's durability. Suddenly, ArsenalMan seemed to gain power, standing taller and exuding confidence. Waiting with disciplined precision for the enemy to shake off the paralysis, he let them back off to recover. Arthur realised he'd completely misdirected his enemy. Short range was ArsenalMan's weakness, but by punishing that LongSword so much, and barely attacking at first, it was obvious that now his enemy thought he was safe.

A full barrage of everything ArsenalMan had left on him filled the opponent in. Arthur noted no chips were used that time. Which could only mean...

ArsenalMan bowled a small ball of Thunder towards the fleeing enemy, and then shepherded the enemy in with his firepower. The second the ball made contact, Arthur knew it was over. Ironic, that the elec Navi would be defeated by predominantly elec type chips. ArsenalMan raised his arm, and a replica of Treble's head appeared. It glowed blue for a moment, as a surge of force blew back the cloak to reveal ArsenalMan's damage. And then a ghostly copy slammed into the enemy with enough force to shake the server. The foe logged out. ArsenalMan dispelled the cannon, righted the cloak and gave a quick salute, before logging out himself. He hadn't even taken damage.

Arthur and Joe jumped out of their seats cheering.

* * *

Arthur was next, after Joe's predictable landslide victory. In total, nine summons had been used to bury his foe alive with Poltergeist. Wind, Fan, Fanfare, and two RockCubes went in, before Joe caused a small uproar in the classroom by putting in FolderBack and summoning another round. Even if one Trumpet went down, Poltergeist was more than enough to simply obliterate the enemy.

Instead of the usual in depth look Treble normally took, he tried to pick out weaknesses first, noting key points. Wood Navi. Light armor. Face paint? He shook his head a little and looked properly, disliking the quick glance idea. They were plated in many small diamond-shaped green tiles, each with a leaf pattern. They lacked any armor apart from small boots, and the face paint was an earthy brown. Despite the light weight and small size they had, they didn't seem to have any mobility power...

'Battle, begin!'

To Treble's dismay, while his opponent got a Grass floor for his half of the arena, he was given Poison.

The Navi in front of Treble faded out, revealing their trick was stealth. Treble was mainly concerned with getting off the tiles, as a horrible feeling spread through his body. He sprinted forwards, for the grass, and then heard the first callouts from the operators.

"SolarMan, Navi chip in. Save it for when you have a clear shot."

"Battlechip in, Katana2." Said the enemy's operator.

Treble wished he had the option to just go to his original form and blitz everything with large attacks until he hit, but BugCharge was still with William. One use of ElementBreath would have to be enough. He felt the data to summon SolarMan load, and tensed, trying to predict where he would be attacked. He backed to the poison, standing at the edge. Not from behind.

A second passed, before he realised there was a way to locate the enemy. Carefully, he read the smells of the area. The poison smelled awful, the grass reminded him of... something? And there was a small discrepancy... there.

The Katana flashed, almost faster than Treble could react. But with a quick twist, the blade only hit air for the first swing. Expecting it to expire, Treble went for a rapid jab to try and bug the enemy's stealth, but they brought the nimble blade straight into his swipe's path, both blocking and allowing them to slash across Treble's exposed torso. It wasn't enough to break his armor, but he stumbled back onto the poison. Before the enemy could capitalise further, he sumoned the copy of SolarMan, and the ghostly data called down a ray of light. Treble expected it to hurt, but the result was decidedly more dramatic. The grass on the floor below them burned away, and the other Navi simply yelped in shock, catching fire along with their panel.

"Quadruple damage, Ha!" Taunted Treble, on his back in the poison. He righted himself, shaking the poison off his head frills and making a lunge for the Grasspanels. The enemy's Katana had dispersed, and they were helpless to stop Treble re-entering their area.

"CamoMan, fall back. Sending Recover80 and Wind." Said the operator simply.

"Gah! Spreaders, both in. Aim for that WindBox before you do anything else!" Commanded Arthur.

Treble loaded a spreader, and waited carefully for the box to appear. He heard a slight 'woop', indicating the recover chip had been used. He paced forwards, wary of attack from any side. He felt a tiny presence to his left, and swung, catching only air. In the instant he wasn't ready for it, CamoMan summoned the WindBox. Try as he did, Treble's feet were swept off the floor, sending his body flying back into the poison. Even while moving, he carefully pointed the Spreader. He flinched when his feet suddendly touched the poison, and the first shot went wild, missing completely. Refocusing himself, Treble loaded the second spreader, and sniped the WindBox. Instantly, he started running for the grass. As he approached the boundary between the panels, he leapt, striking the border area with his claws. While it would have been a logical move to try and catch him just as he left the area, CamoMan had been too cautious. Decloaking to fire his buster was a mistake though, Treble easily weathering the shots, and making another attack that cleanly caught him across the side.

Treble's jaw and upper lip was rigid, but the slight angle he opened his mouth to was definitely a smile. "Gotcha." He stared the enemy down with his pure red eyes. They didn't turn invisible.

"Okay, let's end this. Personal Chip in, ElementBreath!" Said Arthur.

"CamoMan, get cloaked! Get cloaked!" Said the other operator in panic.

CamoMan cowered. "It- My stealth is bugged! I need a-"

Treble had already closed the distance. Red flames washed over the area, and the automated voice said 'Forced Logout successful! 200 damage overkill, congratulations!"

The other operator shrugged as the Navi arrived back in the PET safely. "Aww. Dangit. Honestly I'd have done better without the GrassPanels. That quad damage really hurts..."

Arthur nodded. "Yeah. You'd have had a great time if I'd had no fire chips though. Good job, Treble!"

Treble reappeared in Arthur's PET, whites returning to his eyes and tongue reappearing. "Got em!" ':D'

* * *

Back in class, Arthur sat down only to have Denny tap his shoulder. "Denny?" he said.

"Yeah. Look, just asking... Where'd you get FolderBack? We could use one for... work." Said Denny.

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Said Treble.

"Do tell." Said Denny dryly.

"I spat it out after I was given enough BugFrags."

Arthur raised a palm. "Let me explain in detail. So, you know the only way I can raise Treble's max health is by feeding him BugFrags?"

"Yes."

"Well, the system that does that basically deconstructs the BugFrags, and sends the chunks of code to wherever they would be useful. But there are leftovers. However... those leftovers can be used to repair some incomplete files we found inside Treble's... um, let's just say other data? So after getting enough BugFrags, he'll spit out a chip of whatever was repaired." Explained Arthur.

Denny raised an eyebrow. "Huh. I was hoping for a way to get one of my own. If I got you some, I don't suppose we could have the chip?"

Arthur was confilcted. "I'm... I don't want to be hasty. I have no idea what kind of chip he'll put out next, and neither does he. If I get one of interest, especially a Giga chip, I'll offer it around though. We already have BugCharge"

"But I want to collect them!" Said Treble.

Arthur acknowledged his Navi. "But we might never use them. And you'll get your health raised, so it'll help you a lot."

"...but... they're _my_ chips..."

"I won't push you around for them. I think once was enough with the coding." Shrugged Arthur.

* * *

That night, Treble approached the online shop. Despite the location, he never would have suspected it to be anything less than a completely respectable place.

Arthur spoke. "So, I know you have to go alone... I'm going to send a few battlechips, but remember, when they're gone then I can't send more. You'll be vulnerable until you return to the PET manually. Hm. You know, just for once, having Bass here sounds good. He might be able to give you some pointers on solo operation. Or maybe he'd just fight you anyway. Anyway... B code... well, I've got the neutral Guard, and... oh, here's a B coded Thunder. And of course, your combo. I'm not priming it for unlimited time, in case you get knocked out. You know, it's kind of weird how your personal chip is B code when neither of your names have started with B... Guess the doctor changed the code. Sorry, I'm rambling. I'm a bit nervous."

"I'll be fine! What are they gonna do, kidnap a program thirty times their size?" Grinned Treble.

"Just... be safe, alright? Good luck, I'm putting the PET in standby now." Arthur exited Treble's world with a click.

Treble looked around. "Huh. I... expected being solo would feel different, after all Bass' raving about it."

'Don't insult my words...' came a whisper.

Treble immediately stood bolt upright. "Y-Yes! Don't fight me now, please!"

There was no response. Treble relaxed a tiny bit, still internally terrified. He walked over to the chip shop, and transferred to the server. Inside had a warm atmosphere, with soft orange tiles. A few long seats lined the walls, mostly for aesthetic effect.

Treble scanned the shop, for something resembling SheepMan... _wait, what did SheepMan look like_? The memory was foggy, barely there. Unable to see any Navis that resembled a sheep, he walked to the counter.

"Hey, you have a message for me?" Said Treble.

The cashier reached under the counter. "Oh, hold on..." There was a clunk. "Alright, I see you've got no operator watching. Okay boys, open the channel."

Two of the four Navis pulled up one of the seats, and then flicked some kind of switch out of Treble's vision. A tile in the floor was replaced by a Navi in a seat. They had what was almost certainly wool covering their entire body save for the head. A mop of black, digital hair framed their face.

"Oh? It's on?" They said. "Darling! How does the hair look? Brand new, you know!"

Treble crouched. "Uhh... It's pretty different to what I've seen. Normally it's brown. But it suits you! I think."

SheepMan clapped his hands together daintily. "Excelsior! Down to business then. What can you offer us?"

"Well..." Treble considered what he could say. "I'm a strong fighter."

SheepMan placed a finger on his chin. "We have plenty of those, darling. Anything... unique? Oh, Proggy? My cyber champagne? Where is it?" A Mr. Prog rushed over holding a wineglass. SheepMan picked it up nimbly and took a casual pose, one leg over the other.

"I... might have access to some information sources you don't." Said Treble.

SheepMan raised an eyebrow, flashing an incredibly flawless smile. "Oh, do tell." They said, honeyed voice a far cry from Denny's dryness.

"Not without a good reason. What do you want to know, anyhow?" Said Treble.

SheepMan smiled all the wider. "Well, first things first, some simple stuff! How do you like your current NetOp?"

Treble paused. "They're okay."

"Darling, you can do far better and we both know it! You said yourself, you're a strong battler! With our group, we could get you a professional operator who'll have you unstoppable in two shakes of a lamb's tail." Said SheepMan flamboyantly.

"Um... Nah, really, he's a bit simple, but he really cares about me." Said Treble, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Any... other questions?"

SheepMan laughed gently. "No, it's no bother to us, darling. A simple task to test the waters, then. I'll show you a picture of three Navis. Tell me what you see." The picture replaced the standard screen. It showed a Navi on the ground, one holding ablade to his throat, and the other kneeling.

Treble squinted. "Is... this a trick question?"

"Not at all, darling. This little gem will tell us all we need to know about recruiting you." Said Sheepman.

Treble looked carefully. The Navi on the floor was obviously being held there, but it wasn't an execution of some kind. More likely an arrest, if he was being subjugated. "I think he's being arrested... Wait, I should try a more cover-all answer. Captured. Then again... I _know_ the officials don't show mercy. So in that case... it's a kidnapping? Right?"

SheepMan leaned in. "Continue, darling..."

"Uhh..." He tried looking at the small details of each Navi. He spotted something interesting. "The two captors share a maker. Look at the overall way their gear is set out. The armor is thin but consistent. You don't see that often, since it's mainly cosmetic and chunky armor stands out better in a fight with viruses. In fact... they're from another country! Look at the sword that one has. The handle is different to any model I've ever seen." Deduced Treble. "And... ohh." The Navi on the ground was very slowly, but surely changing. Most notably, a yellow pattern of dots was spreading over their skin.

Treble unravelled the hint in the picture. He leapt back from the image, and scanned the room. Of the five other Navis, two had thin consistent armor plates. "If you're going to attack me, then do it!" He called. The picture changed back to SheepMan.

"You're in. You know the officials for the murderers they are, and you got the hint about our little trap, and what we do to incompetent Navis. Capture, wipe a few days worth of memory, and release. That's all we need for an entry level job, dearest!"

"Do I get one now?" Asked Treble.

SheepMan laughed again. "Why how good of you to offer! Yes. We'd like you to spread the word. Our group is recruiting, you see. To get anything done, we'll need a few more Navis. Send a couple over here, we'll test them, and then I'll get in touch, dearest. Any questions?" He sipped the drink.

"Do I get some kind of ID? And... what does that even taste like?"

SheepMan raised the glass in a mock toast. "It tastes like luxury. I'd love to find a good partner to share some with. Perhaps if you prove yourself, hm? Ah yes, and an ID? We don't use those, tacky things. One can't explain away such an item if they're arrested. But I handle all our staff. So you won't be getting any awkward looks from our local branch. Toodles, dearest! The corrupt officials would be gone within a week if all Navis were like you." The screen faded back to a panel.

"Congrats." Said one of the Navis in a rough voice. "See ya never, though. We just come in for tests." They turned and left.

The cashier reached under the counter and re-opened the server to the net. "So, any good candidates?"

Treble shrugged. "Maybe. I can't mess up my first job, though! I'll have to try and probe my NetOp, see if he maybe agrees the officials need removing. I know he's not happy with them, at least."

"Best of luck to you, but I must remind you- No talking about our business unless you're in a secure server." Said the cashier.

"Alright, bye." Said Treble. He scurried out of the shop, stepping back into the main net.

While Treble did not have any hairs on the back of his neck, they would have prickled if he did. He glanced around, trying to work out what suddenly screamed danger to his systems. Was it GateMan? ProtoMan, here to delete him over another incorrect assumption? Bass? One of the Navis from the test, here to tell him he'd actually failed and attack? A powerful virus? From the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow, and realised it was indeed one of those. And... _where did the name GateMan come from, anyway?_

"Look, I can't fight you every day." Said Treble. "Why do you care about me so much, anyway? I'm flattered, if somewhat scared."

"I suppose it's sentimentality."

"I'm... not really in a position to fight you. So, do you want to make a scene about a super virus running through a few areas or are you going to leave me be?" Joked Treble, not turning around.

"I'll leave. I understand what it's like to feel hunted better than any other Navi. I came to give you this." A small bit of data rattled by Treble's feet. "It's the new P-code for my homepage- I decided to install a cube after yesterday. If you ever feel like actually leaving your NetOp."

Treble stood frozen. "...right."

"You won't see me again before our duel. I've finally found another source of power, and I'll conquer it. There'll be no time for sentiment. And this goes without saying... but you're the only one I'm willing to accept. If that code ends up in any other Navi's hands, I'll make you beg for deletion."

The surroundings returned to normal. Treble relaxed, and picked up the code. It was a string of a few thousand random characters, and would take millions of years for anything to guess with unrestricted access to the corresponding Cube. It was wrapped up as a small purple gem, shaped like a small cross. _It looks kind of pretty... maybe I'll have it added to my armor?_ Thought Treble. He walked off towards Arthur's homepage.

* * *

Arthur listened to Treble's story carefully, trying to work out a next step. "Knowing what SheepMan looks like is definitely a big help for the officials, and knowing that the officials are the target of this crazy plan should let them prepare a counterattack. I'll write this all up and mail Doctor Hikari."

"I'll help! What do you want the Email to say?"

Arthur shook his head. "We're going for the most secrecy I can think of. It's going by the postal service, inside an empty box that has a stone inside as well for weight."

"Wow, that's next-level. Oh yeah, Arthur! I... um... found this purple gem! What do think of it?" Treble held up the P-code, not wanting to say what it actually was.

Arthur glanced at the gem, scribbling on a sheet of paper. "It's nice. What're you going to do with it?"

Treble realised it resembled the original owner's gem, cresting their helmet. He held it over his own forehead. "How does this look?"

Arthur didn't look up from his page. "Two seconds..." He glanced over. "Not sure the angle works... But it does match your jumpsuit. What if you put it on your back? There are no cosmetics there."

Treble held the small jewel behind himself, and turned around, holding it between where his shoulderblades would have been. "Like this?"

"...Yeah. It's like some kind of tough guy tattoo. Just... as a gem. How are you going to attach it?"

"I think I'm just going to stick it on. Tell it to stay there." He released his grip. The gem stayed in position. "Tadaa. Oh, I better make sure there's a backup in case it gets deleted. I'm still going to fight my best."

Arthur looked at it. "Yeah, that looks okay. Now I just need to find a box... And get permission to bring my friends into this."

 **Author's notes: SheepMan may have come out weirder than intended, darlings. Also, Treble has mild flashbacks of getting murdered by Gater! Fun times. Question to anyone that cares about it: Do you want to see Roll and the others from Lan's supporting cast show up? It'll probably be a cameo, but there's certainly room for a GutsMan battle.**

 **Reviewer answers!  
**

 **RushAlias: I'd be happy to, as long as your writing is decent- Don't worry, I just want it to be mostly spelled correctly and not have any complete Mary-sues. Somewhat hypocritical of me, since Treble gets along with _Bass_ to some slight degree. (Maybe I should add a few characters that don't get along with him outside ProtoMan...)**


	9. Chapter 9: Testing

Arthur sat up to read his Emails in the morning.

First was one from Denny.

'We've been struggling to find out much more about Bass. I've been trying to find some information leaks from the officials, and also where he hides, because my usual sources have nothing else on him. Have you asked Lan yet?'

Arthur opened the second one, from someone he didn't know. "Treble, who's Chaud? Do you know them?"

"No? Wait, that might be ProtoMan's NetOp. The one that knows Lan!"

'If the information is correct, it's helpful. I can't send ProtoMan to investigate, as there's a chance he'll be recognised, but at the same time I can't authorise putting untrained civilians at risk. Bring your friends to Scilab first thing saturday, and we'll assess them for combat and decision-making skills. Also, contact Yuichiro. He wants to check if your Navi is working as intended. For future reference, PET communications are currently secure. No need to go through the postal service.'

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Aw. It felt kind of cool to send a parcel."

"You better mail Lan!" Said Treble.

"Right."

'Lan, there's something I need to ask about.

Have you ever fought a Navi called Bass, with orange fins on his head?

We'll be at Scilabs on Saturday with some of my friends, if you want to meet me then?'

He clicked send, and proceeded through the morning to school.

* * *

"So... did you fix up ArsenalMan?" Asked Arthur, coming through the gates.

William smiled. "Better than before. Take a look. I couldn't restore the original personality, and..." William swallowed. "He lost a couple of memories, but he's just... a bit less forceful now, I suppose." He held up the PET.

ArsenalMan looked good as new, with a camoflauge pattern added to his previously pure olive armor. He saluted Arthur. "Greetings, Arthur." He said softly. "I apologise for my failure to fulfil duty."

Arthur placed a hand over his heart. "You performed above and beyond. It was my own lack of judgement. I would like to promise not to let you come into danger again... but I need your help, still."

William raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we can oppose that Navi that attacked yet. My upgrades were the best I could make, but that power was something else..."

"No, I need you to help me bring down a criminal organisation. We'll be working with the officials to infiltrate them from the inside." Said Arthur. "But... you'll need to come with me to SciLabs for a combat check first thing Saturday. Can you cancel your drill practice without losing respect?"

"I can't." Said William.

"I understand. I'll try and keep you updat-" Said Arthur.

"Oh no, I'm coming with you. I doubt my superior will show understanding, it's his job to be tough, but this? This is defence of the country, even if it's not a war. This is what I train for." Said William. "So I'll remind you: I'm here to the end."

Arthur sighed in relief. "Oh, that means a ton to me! I'd stay and talk more, but I need to get Joe and Denny on board."

* * *

Denny looked up from his locker. "Mm?... If it's about my recent message, then sorry."

"No. I actually have another job for you, and just enough leftover Zenny to cover it. In fact, you can cancel the current job, and take the payment as additional for this one." Said Arthur.

"Dang." Said Denny, in an impressed tone. "What've you got for me?"

"I'm working with the officials to bring down a criminal organisation, and recover a kidnapped program. I need you to back me up." Said Arthur in a low tone, other conversations masking his words.

"Done deal. Any catches?"

"You need to come to SciLab first thing Saturday. It's a combat test, to make sure your Navi will be safe if things go bad."

"We won't fail. Fill me in via Email. Too many people here." Said Denny.

* * *

In class Arthur pulled Joe aside, careful the teacher wasn't watching.

"What's wrong?" Said Joe. "Did you get attacked by that Navi again?"

"I need some help from you. I'm trying to bring down-" Arthur was cut off.

"A criminal organisation? William told me. Of course we'll help." Said Joe.

"Of course. Though, you'll understand if we prefer to avoid fighting that Navi from before again." Added MathMan.

"We've got his name! He's called Bass." Said Treble.

MathMan inspected his sword hand. "Well, if we meet him again, then we'll simply disengage. I don't think anyone could blame us."

"Haha, he's... yeah. Way more powerful than us." Said Treble half-heartedly. "Just another reason to get stronger!"

"And we will. Joe?" Said MathMan.

"Yes. Arthur, it's time for a netbattle." Said Joe. "Right now. Come on, we have half an hour before our tournament matches."

* * *

Joe and Arthur stood opposite each other at the netbattle machine. "Okay Arthur. I know you can win. Give it your all."

"Will do. Don't get careless. Treble, hunt!"

"MathMan, Jack in."

The two navis also stood opposite each other, mirroring their operators. MathMan formed his sword, and levelled it. Treble turned his fingers to claws.

"Treble, destroy!"

"MathMan, resolve combat."

The two Navis dashed for each other at full speed, clashing weapons once and backing off, wary of follow-ups.

"CrossBomb and Thunder, in!" Said Arthur.

"Navi chip in, Treble!"

A ghostly copy of Treble appeared, performing a reckless charge for the real one. Treble parried his own claws, and the copy disappeared, but MathMan was already upon them, with a mighty overhead sword strike. It caught Treble across the arm, knocking him back, but Treble countered with the Thunder, and delivered a strike to MathMan's helmet, before moving back and throwing the bomb. "Yeah! This is a fight I like!" He cheered, uncaring of his wounds.

MathMan pulled himself out of paralysis before the CrossBomb hit, dodging. He appeared to focus. "Joe, give me a clean shot."

"Chips in, Invisible, and AreaSteal." Said Joe.

"Hmm. Guard, and... three Vulcan1's, in! Program advance, InfiniteVulcan1!" Said Arthur.

MathMan faded to invisibility. "Now... we finally got the pun my weapon's named after to work, using your bug actually. Treble, what happens when you divide by zero?"

Treble looked confused, taken back at the sudden banter. "What?"

The voice suddenly came from behind Treble. "You get an error."

The sword, the 'zero divider', flashed behind Treble, and even though Treble didn't get cut in half by the swing, it made a deep gash in his back. He staggered backwards, spinning to face MathMan. Treble tried to attack with his claws, but instead just slapped MathMan with his regular hand.

" _You_ bugged _me?_ " Said Treble.

MathMan took the opportunity to swing in with his blade again, but to his surprise, it clanged off a Guard, letting Treble freely blast him with the InfiniteVulcan. He dropped to the ground, nearly at the point of logout.

"H-how? That attack was meant to stop you using chips, not your default weapon!" MathMan said.

"MathMan, don't lose your focus. Symphony, Wind, Rockcubes, in!"

Arthur realised what had happened with a grin. "Treble, you managed to give his bug a bug. Let's end this- Variable sword, in! Left, down, right!"

MathMan summoned a trumpet, and a windbox in front of him, hoping they would act as shields, but the Variablesword cleaved through.

'MathMan, forced logout successful.'

Treble stood. "I... I did it! I actually beat MathMan!"

"You did." Said MathMan. "Did you get my Navi chip?"

Arthur took a previously blank chip out of the PET, having written data onto it. "We did... Well done, Treble!"

Treble made a text box and held it up. ':D'

Joe looked to MathMan apologetically. "My miscalculation. I should have realised that if anyone could beat our new trick, it would be them."

"We learned. That's all we have to do to improve our strategy." Said MathMan with certainty.

* * *

Arthur sat in the chipshop, waiting for his battle. Two defensive Navis were fighting each other. The owners seemed to have far too many guard chips. Eventually, it was his turn. He looked at his opponent.

The opponent grimaced at their PET. "Look man, I don't know about this..."

"It'll be fine, Jon." Replied the Navi. "I will not die."

Arthur glanced. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just... your reputation's been growing. A bit."

Treble heard this. "Are we famous?! Come on, that would be so cool!"

"It's a local tournament, Treble." Said Arthur. "Maybe if we made it to nationals."

Jon nodded. "Okay, I'm prepared to lose."

"Aw, don't be that way. Give it a shot." Encouraged Arthur.

"Never said I wouldn't. Jack in."

"Treble, hunt!"

Treble was surprised to see he was facing a completely basic Navi. Ordinary green armor and body. He looked back to Arthur. "How did a Navi like this get to round four?"

Arthur considered for a moment. "Powerful chips. Or maybe... a good battle plan. either way, keep your guard up. They have an edge. We just cant see it."

'Battle, start!'

Fast as lightning, Jon had a chip out of his bag. "SeaSeed! And... I'm sending our advance!" He started quickly feeding several more chips into the PET.

A small orb appeared on the Navi's hands. He pitched it into the air, but Treble was already moving forwards. "Arthur! Gimme some chips!"

Arthur fumbled for a second, as the SeaSeed landed, instantly creating a large area of watery tiles. From the corner of his eye, he saw the chip in Jon's PET. "Guard, in! And... I can't believe this, but... I'm sending our advance! Don't get close to that Navi!"

Treble pulled back quickly, feet/paws sinking to his ankles in water. "Why? Have you seen something?"

The Navi moved, and Treble panic-summoned the guard. The Navi didn't attack, and started running for him. Treble realised the guard had been to buy time for the advance to complete its download.

" _Now!_ " Jon said confidently. His Navi produced a sword Arthur hadn't seen before, and that Treble wasn't seeing right now, since he was in the split-second of transforming.

The LifeSword left a shallow yet noticeable cut across GS-Treble's muzzle, but the end result was a wasted program advance and an ordinary Navi against something that would have made most custom Navis flee.

':D' texted an extremely large, and slightly jarred text box.

Jon just made a face. "Nope. Nope. Not happening. Bye. Jacking out." He took his Navi out of the machine. "I concede."

'Foe submits.' Said the machine.

Treble turned his massive self around and sat. "I ACTUALLY FELT THAT! WHAT WAS IT?!" he boomed happily.

Arthur shrugged. "Jon, what was that sword?"

"It's LifeSword, a program advance. It creates a massive arc and deals 400 damage on average, and... most people don't see it coming. But it's not very good at breaking armor. The combo is Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade. But you can do a weaker version for 200 called SoulSword with Sword, WideSword and LongSword"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Two of those chips come free with a PET. Where do I get LongSword? Oh, and Treble, back." He beamed Treble into the PET.

"I have like, five of them. Trade you if you tell me who customised your Navi."

Arthur looked to Treble. "Uhh... he's one of a kind. Scilabs did the work."

It was Jon's turn to look surprised. "Wait, they do customisations? I thought they just sort of... developed the bits and bobs. How expensive?"

Arthur grinned awkwardly. "Well, it's not cheap. I... had a pretty hefty discount for Treble. Can't say more. But... I think they could probably still do something good for less."

Jon nodded. "Alright, you can have the chip. Here." He rummaged in his pockets for a moment. "LongSword S. All yours. See you."

Arthur held it in front of the screen. "Look at that, Treble! Pretty generous of him!"

"We need to try that advance out, right now!" Said Treble, almost shaking with excitement.

* * *

Saturday morning came. Arthur strolled up to the train station barely awake but on time, courtesy of his father. A slice of half-toasted, half-eaten bread was in his mouth.

Joe, William and Denny were already waiting. William sighed in relief. "We thought you'd overslept again."

"Like the time last summer." Added Joe.

"Hey, we got to the campsite in the end. Let's get on that train." Said Arthur.

As they were rushing through Electopia, Denny checked around the carriage subtly. He looked at Arthur and said. "Two officials. One ex-criminal. See that one, there?" He pointed to a certain white-haired teen in a business suit.

Arthur nodded, not trusting himself to whisper quietly enough.

"Eugene Chaud. Not sure why he would be here when he has a private jet, but he's one of the top officials in the world." Explained Denny. "He's doing a good job of blending in. That's a rental suit, because custom-tailored would stand out. If I hadn't met him recently, I'd have missed him myself."

Arthur turned to Denny. "...Does he operate a Navi called ProtoMan?"

Denny stared. "How do you know that he operates ProtoMan?"

"Chaud's the one who responded about the info I gathered. He's the one organising our test." Said Arthur. "Treble overheard the name Chaud when ProtoMan was halfway through dicing him."

Denny grinned. "Wow. Not like him to let his name slip. But still... why's he here?"

Joe leaned in. "Well... I'm going to say that it has something to do with the fact you spotted a criminal. Who are they?"

Denny carefully glanced to a man with ragged black hair. "'Dark' Miyabi. Known mercenary. He was given an official pardon for actions that occurred surrounding the darkchip factory's destruction, but what was left of the rest of the file painted a very nasty past. Perhaps he's been hired, actually. Intelligence indicated he hasn't killed anyone important recently."

William joined in the circle of leaning. "If someone like that is on the same train as a high-ranking official, on the way to scilabs... do you think that we're going to have to-"

"Fight me?" Said Miyabi, suddenly next to the group.

Everyone jumped.

Miyabi looked at Denny with his one working eye. "You're not bad at this. But you let your guard down for a whole two seconds." He said, disgust on his tongue. He turned and left, disappearing into the crowd on the carriage like a grain of sand on a beach.

Denny placed a hand over his heart. "I... genuinely thought we were dead then." He spun, catching Miyabi looking at him from another angle. "Not twice." Said Denny firmly.

Miyabi didn't smile. He just looked less severe. "An improvement. As you would work out anyway, I will be your opponent later. Be ready." He was gone again.

* * *

"Good morning, and welcome to SciLabs." said Chaud, looking over everyone. The second they'd arrived, an aide had taken them from front desk to the back of SciLabs, an expansive room with several immensely powerful-looking computers. "Arthur, introduce your friends. I want a quick summary of skills and Navis. We won't need to test you, so you can wait in the lobby after this."

"Okay... This is William. He's training to be a soldier, which every man in his family has done for several generations. He's trained to be strong, fast and make proper tactical decisions. He's capable of leading a small team. His Navi is ArsenalMan, and he specialises in ranged damage. While he lacks good defences, and has trouble with swords, if he picks his fights rather than the enemy, then the chances are they'll be doomed before even reaching him." Said Arthur.

William saluted. "Good morning, officer."

"Next is Joe. He's the smartest guy in my year, and smarter than half of the year above me. Both he and his Navi always keep their cool. He operates MathMan, an exceptionally powerful Navi that specialises in melee fights, but has no trouble attacking at range. They're some of the strongest battlers I know, taking down people with years more experience easily."

Joe nodded. "Good morning, sir."

"Lastly, we have Denny. He's a professional information gatherer from a line of criminals, with most of his immediate family jailed thanks to his own efforts. He's a nearly professional actor, he can handle himself around mercenaries, and has no trouble navigating the UnderNet. His Navi is PlugMan, and... I suspect you don't need an introduction to their skills."

"Hello again." Said Denny casually.

Chaud glared at Denny. "You can leave now Arthur. Testing will take around an hour."

* * *

Arthur took himself to the front desk. "Excuse me, is a certain Lan Hikari here?" He asked.

"Name, please?" Said the attendant.

"Arthur."

"Surname and Navi?"

"Penn, Treble."

"Alright, just take the elevator to the third floor and it's the room at the end of the corridor. He's been compiling a file, and said nobody but you and his father could visit." Said the attendant.

Treble spoke up as Arthur walked. "Do you think it's about Bass?"

"It might be about Trill, too. We're trying to get them back, above all." Said Arthur.

He knocked on the door to the office. "One second!" Shouted Lan. There was the sound of a lock clicking. "Arthur. You'd better come in, we've got a lot to show you."

Arthur was taken back by Lan's urgency. "What's wrong?"

"Just come in, quick."

Arthur walked in. A large computer adorned one wall. Two empty cups of coffee were next to it. "Wow, nice computer."

"Thanks, it's dad's old one. Uh- nevermind! This is urgent." Said Lan. "Does the Navi you're talking about match this one?" He pressed a key, and a picture of Bass was displayed.

Arthur nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. We heard you'd beaten them, and we could use advice."

"Well, my advice would be to never fight them again if you can help it." Said Lan. "We made Treble as strong as we could, but Bass... well, I'm going to tell you everything, in the order we learned it.

The first time we encountered Bass, it was in the far reaches of the net, after the incident with the LifeVirus. When the Virus was created, although we released reports on most of it, only officials know someone actually stole a copy of the virus' then unprecedented LifeAura ability program. It was Bass, and he appeared to challenge us then. We beat him, and he left without another word, leaving us a copy too.

Next was the Gospel incident. Sean Obihiro was trying to replicate Bass when he made Treble. The result destroyed the server, and resulted in your Navi's original self. But shortly after that, we found the real Bass on the net, inside an abandoned World Three server. He was tough, but eventually we beat him and actually obtained his Navi chip.

The Alpha incident was next. Wily recruited Bass into his service to free Alpha, and we also found out about his past. He was made by doctor Cossak, one of the best Navi makers ever seen. Bass was his pride and joy, it turned out, until one day Bass was incorrectly blamed for the problems Alpha was causing. Officials tried to delete him for treason, and scarred his Navi mark, but Bass defeated every official there was. Trust in humanity gone, he fled to the net. It was then we also found out he has the 'get ability' program. If he's given a Navi that's sufficiently weak, and that can be a very flexible definition, he can absorb them and gain their powers. After that, we eventually found him in the secret area, where he'd retreated after we injured him to the point of deletion. But he fused with what was left of Treble, and nearly deleted us. We were able to beat him, and he discarded you, since you were stopping him healing fully. Also... at some point around then, another Navi called Serenade beat him after a battle that lasted a full three days.

Then we had Nebula show up. Bass didn't interfere much, but we found him again. He'd used the 'Get ability' program to absorb more darkpower than any other program could hold. So much, it actually damaged his LifeAura data, and replaced it with a DarkPower barrier. We were still able to win... and he actually started to respect us. We fought again in Nebula's Dark Galaxy server after I brought down the chip factory, and I beat Bass fair and square. I gave him the copy of the LifeAura we'd gotten from him originally to replace the one he lost, and he formed a bond that let MegaMan use his data for the Cross system. He left, still not trusting us, but promising he'd beat us one day.

And last, the Cybeasts. While Gregar fused with MegaMan, Falzar wanted the strength to destroy Gregar and fused with Bass. That fight... we nearly destroyed the entire UnderNet. We came out on top after a long time, and Bass retreated. We knew he was still in the UnderNet somewhere, recovering."

Arthur looked over the files. "But how do we beat him? He'll go after Treble no matter what, and we have to go on the Net to bring down... Euraisa."

"You might not be able to. He's still got Falzar's data, and even then he has LifeAura. You'd need a very specific setup. Northwind to remove his defences, and then an extreme level of combat capability. I... well, I nearly died myself in those fights. We have a program that lets us work in absolutely perfect unison, and massively increases MegaMan's capabilities, but causes me to take some of the damage as well. I don't run it for anything but Bass and threats on the level of the LifeVirus."

"...Treble, hunt. Is it okay to make a copy of this data? And in all seriousness, we need to beat him. What chips do we need?"

Lan sighed. "Okay, most important is definitely NorthWind. You have to open with that, or his LifeAura will just keep regenerating. Then the only way I think you could do it would be by having a very powerful combination of chips, like SuperVulcan, DoublePoint and Attack +30. He has around 3500 health by our estimations."

Arthur nearly choked. "I heard that right? Three _thousand."_

"And five hundred."

"But... it's only possible to use thirty chips in a battle before a PET has to clear the data... Every chip would have to contribute more than 100 damage!" Said Arthur, doing a little math.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy." Agreed Lan. "Are you sure there's nothing you can do to pacify him?"

"Any ideas, Treble?" Said Arthur.

Treble was silent. "...I could try joining him, I guess? He seemed to have some good memories of me. It's just that he hates humans."

MegaMan tapped Treble's shoulder in the computer. "Umm... what's this on your back? We didn't add it." He looked at the purple gem.

Treble froze. "That's..."

"It's a P-code!" Said MegaMan. "But for who?"

Treble spun. "It's nothing, really..."

Arthur looked in question. "You said it was just something you found." He accused. "Whose P-code is it?"

"..." Treble looked to one side. "...Bass'"

Arthur leaned back. "What? Why would you have the code for Bass' homepage? Why would he even need a security cube?"

"He found me when I was coming back after joining SheepMan. He gave it to me and told me if I ever wanted to abandon you, then I could come to the UnderNet. But also that I couldn't give it to anyone else. I wasn't supposed to let anyone know it was a P-code."

Lan shrugged. "Either way, with it I can take MegaMan to the UnderNet and delete Bass. Maybe if I weaken him, you can take him on immedieately afterwards."

"N-no! He trusted me with it!" Said Treble. "Arthur, back me up here. I don't want to betray someone!"

Arthur sat and stared.

"Arthur?"

Arthur eventually looked up. "You should have told me. I understand your side, but... I'll do anything I can to protect your life. Give them the P-code."

"No!" Said Treble. "I can't do that to him. You heard Lan! He's been betrayed by almost everyone he knows. I might be the only Navi he'd be willing to trust, since his bond with MegaMan revolves around killing him!"

"Treble, I'm serious. That P-code could mean the difference between life and death for you. Give. It. To. MegaMan."

Treble turned and ran. "I'll destroy it before I let that happen!"

"T-Treble?! What are you doing?!" Said Arthur. "I-I'm just trying to look out for you!"

"I don't like being pushed around!" Yelled Treble. There was a buzz as the screen went black.

"He... blocked me out." Said Arthur. "I didn't realise it meant this much to him..."

Lan placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll go get him back. Go, MegaMan."

"Roger!" confirmed the blue Navi.

* * *

Treble sprinted. He ran, and ran, and ran...

 _Why did I do that. He was just trying to be helpful. No! He was going to force me to give it over... I don't want to betray Bass like that! He trusted me! But... Arthur trusted me too... I just ran out on him. What if he hates me now? What if... I can't go back?_

 _Why do I feel this sense of... Deja Vu?_

For a second, Treble felt a searing pain across his Navi mark. He clapped a hand over it, and found nothing was wrong, but... it had been like a sword. He looked around, still running. He could have sworn that for a second, he heard a Navi being deleted.

MegaMan rounded the corner. "Treble, wait!"

 _No! He's going to try and take it by force... and I know I can't beat him._

 _I have to keep running._

Treble continued on, through area after area, through link after link. Without Arthur to guide him, he was relying on his nose to get...

 _Where am I trying to go? I just need to think this over... right?_

He reached a page of links, MegaMan hot on his heels.

 _The UnderNet. The real one. I'll go there, and I'll just... return the P-code. I wish I'd never picked it up._

Treble dived through one of the links.

* * *

"Lan, he's gone to Netfrica!" Said MegaMan.

"Netfrica? Why there?" Said Arthur.

"This might sound bad... but it's the easiest one to access the UnderNet from." Said Lan.

"He's... leaving?!" Gasped Arthur. "No..."

"Don't jump to conclusions." Said MegaMan. "I'm still after him. The real worry is he'll run into some viruses there. He's not designed for solo operations."

Lan looked over his desktop. "If he's going there... then he'll get stuck long before reaching Bass. The place is a maze! And if he gets stuck..."

"...He'll get cornered by you?" Said Arthur hopefully.

"Maybe. But if a virus gets there first... Arthur, this is going to sound crazy, but... give him the original form advance. It'll let him reach Bass safely. We'll just have to hope he comes back." said Lan.

"Lan, you're asking him to put his trust in a Navi that literally just ran off!" Said MegaMan.

"...trust..." Whispered Arthur. "I'll trust him. There's time to make up later, but if he gets deleted... then it's my fault." He took out the chips, and entered them. "Please come back."

* * *

Treble felt the advance load, to his surprise.

 _Why?_

He looked out over the UnderNet, viruses already reacting to him, and transformed, leaping over bridges and paths with ease. He passed through the Undernet without needing to fight a single virus, leaving MegaMan behind in seconds. Eventually, he came into familiar lands, the background taking on a darker hue and the walkways filled with less Navis and more viruses.

On and on, until eventually, he came to a security cube. He dropped out of his original form, and took the code off his back. The Cube opened into a doorway. He walked through and closed it, and simply sat against it, the pathway devoid of viruses. He looked at the gem in his hands. The purple, previously clean but dull, was a vivid, flaming hue now, possibly in response to the location.

 _Why did you help me get here?_

Treble stood up.

 _I'll return it. I'll just remove the whole problem._

He entered Bass' page, looking around properly for the first time. The background was a simple pure dark blue, with the occasional white dot.

 _It looks like a night sky._

There was a storage area for text files, and a pile of BugFrags. Treble was sorely tempted to eat some. There was also a pile of data with a few recognisible things inside. A variable sword, some Mettaur helmets... And in another corner, a rack with a few brown cloaks. Treble wandered over, and picked one off the rack.

 _I shouldn't wear this... I'm here to just return the P-code..._

He wrapped it around his neck anyway. It was actually very soft and well-fitting, despite the rough look. It didn't restict movement at all, despite all it did to hide one's one actions.

"Comfortable, aren't they?" Said Bass.

Treble jumped and yelped in shock, turning around to see Bass. "BASS!?"

"Yes. You finally came around?"

"Umm..."

"You didn't? Why are you here, then? You're still far too weak. I wouldn't even have time to blink before I deleted you. Any other Navi would be a few 1's and 0's by now."

"I came here to return this." Treble held out the P-code. "My operator wanted me to give it to Lan, so that Lan could weaken you before we fought. He was trying to look out for me, but... I can't betray you. Especially after we found out about... why you're like this."

Bass was silent. He simply picked the code out of Treble's hands.

"Um... you know, I didn't really think this through. You're not going to delete me, are you?"

"Not now. You're nowhere near strong enough. Also- I know you. I've literally _been_ you. You have another question for me. Make it a good one. I have... other Navis to hunt." Said Bass, a smile just slightly visible under his cloak.

"Well... I was wondering if you'd help us find SheepMan. Even though I saw them, I have no idea where they are... and if we take too long, then they'll start a campaign against the officials. It could tear Electopia apart from the inside."

"I could click my fingers and open a portal to them at anytime. But if I did, you wouldn't get more powerful. Which is the entire reason I haven't absorbed you yet."

"Then... a hint? I'll still do all the fighting!"

"No. You ought to go. Falzar is getting restless, even if you're hiding your cybeast side quite well like that."

"Oh. Okay. Can I keep this?" Treble held up the cloak. "I'm... not so afraid of you anymore, heh."

"...Fine, you can keep the cloak. But say something that stupid again and I'll blast you to bits."

Treble left the page in a hurry, and logged out.

* * *

Arthur let a massive breath out. "Oh, thank god. Treble, I'm so sorry! And- Uh, where'd you get that from?" He noticed the cloak.

"It's okay. I just... went and gave the code back. Bass was actually pretty understanding. He let me have this! I asked for some help finding SheepMan, but... he thinks I'll get stronger finding him myself." Said Treble.

"Thank goodness... Look, I never should have tried to pressure you like that. Can you forgive me?" Said Arthur.

"Yeah. I understand why it was a big deal to you."

"You just casually went up to BASS of all Navis, and he didn't even try to attack you?! And he gave you his _CLOAK_?!" Said MegaMan. "He never takes that off!"

"It's not the one he was wearing. He has a bunch of spares." Said Treble. "He didn't attack because I was too weak, but eventually Falzar started to realise who I was and he shooed me out. I guess the other Navis that wouldn't be worth fighting could never hope to actually reach him."

"Can... can I try the cloak on?" Said MegaMan.

Treble unwrapped it, and passed it over. MegaMan put it on. "It just doesn't work on you like it does for Bass." Commented Treble. "Your eyes are too bright."

MegaMan passed back the clothing as Arthur sighed. "Still... it was a pretty big advantage. Nevermind. We'll just have to focus on SheepMan for now. We'll deal with Bass later."

"Yeah! Come on, MathMan and everyone will be finishing their tests soon! And... Actually, I want to know something. Why did you send me my advance?" Said Treble.

"Well..." Said Arthur.

Lan took over. "I told him that he could decide not to send it, and MegaMan would catch you pretty easily when you hit a dead end, but at the risk of viruses catching you first. Or he could send it, and trust you were coming back."

"You trusted me?" Said Treble. "With my own life?"

"...Yeah. It sounds kind of awkward that way, but yeah. I trust you. Even when I don't know what you're doing." Said Arthur.

"Aw! You're the best! I think I can trust you, too now! At last." Said Treble.

 **Author's notes: And the slight distrust finally comes to a head. The cloak serves no purpose apart from hiding your body (useful if your hands need to load surprise weapons, not so useful if your hands are claws), and it's actually got no special properties unless it's being reinforced by one of Bass' programs, so Treble won't be wearing it often. Assume unless I say, he's not wearing it. It's just kept in the PET.  
**

 **LifeSword was split to SoulSword and LifeSword because in a world where you can do advances on command, then LifeSword would be completely overpowered if LongSwords weren't very rare, which is a bit dumb.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: I did explain to you already, but for the viewers I count a character as a Mary-Sue when everyone likes them _without good reason._ Good luck with your story, I'm with you every step of the way.**

 **Guest: Ahh, thank you so much for the compliment! I'd also be really excited to see fanart, I'd do some myself if my drawing skills were actually skills. In case you're wondering... you could ride Treble without getting bugged up, if you had adequate protection like BugStop in the NaviCust, Bass' program that stopped Darkpower killing him, or some kind of saddle. And also, THANK YOU FOR ANSWERING THAT QUESTION! One thing that's hard to judge as an author is how much to use already-developed characters, so viewer indication is so important.**


	10. Chapter 10: Knowledge

Lan led Arthur down to the lobby. Everyone else was waiting already, Chaud included.

"Did you pass?!" Blurted Arthur.

Joe turned. "Yes. It was tough, but we're in."

William raised a hand, displaying a battlechip. "It was a three-on-three duel. We were against ProtoMan and two Navis we didn't know at all, called ShadowMan and ToadMan."

Denny smiled. "We beat 'em. Ninety-nine percent sure they were holding back less than instructed."

"All three are cleared to launch an infiltration attempt alongside you. Of course, just because you can hold your own, don't get reckless. We've given each of you one of our Navi chips, but remember they will blow your cover." Said Chaud sternly.

"You actually gave away a ProtoMan chip? I had to beat you three times!" Said Lan.

Chaud put his hands in his pockets. "Lan, I'm trying to maintain respect here. I don't wear a suit often."

Arthur's friends looked around him to see the iconic blue headband. William blinked.

"Lan Hikari, it's an honor!" Said Joe.

Denny laughed softly. "Hey Lan. Good job with the whole net-saving thing."

Lan reached a hand behind his head. "Hey, I couldn't have done it without MegaMan!"

"Can we see him? Electopia owes him a lot." Said ArsenalMan.

"Sure, just let me open a chat channel..." Said Lan, tapping a few options into the PET. "Say hello."

* * *

A six-way chatroom opened in seconds. MegaMan, ProtoMan, Treble, MathMan, ArsenalMan and PlugMan.

"Hi guys!" Said MegaMan.

ProtoMan was quiet.

"Hi MegaMan!" Said Treble.

"I'm MathMan. Good to meet you."

"ArsenalMan, at your service."

"'Sup."

"So" Said MegaMan. "Who got each chip? I can't believe Chaud gave out a ProtoMan chip."

"Well" Explanied MathMan. "We thought we should use them to cover our weaknesses. ArsenalMan struggles with melee, so he got ProtoMan. I thrive if I can get in close, and ToadMan's chip paralyses. And Miyabi insisted PlugMan got ShadowMan's chip."

"Do I get a chip?" Said Treble.

"BugCharge." Countered ProtoMan.

"Oh yeah."

PlugMan looked bored. "You know... What are you a prototype of, anyway? When are we going to see full-release man?" He said to ProtoMan.

"Proto is short for protocol, not prototype. And everyone here knows about your actual self, so don't bother hiding it."

"Oh." Said the other five navis.

"Anyway, MegaMan. We heard you're a pretty legendary fighter. Wanna go sometime?" Said PlugMan.

MathMan and ArsenalMan looked astounded.

"Of course! There's a netbattle machine in the break room, actually!" Said MegaMan. "Lan? Can we battle these guys?"

"I recommend you do." Encouraged ProtoMan. "You'll need all the experience you can get."

"You're on!" Said Lan. "Who first?"

* * *

MegaMan had been holding back, but everyone was wildly outclassed.

First was PlugMan and Denny. They actually tried, trying to keep MegaMan at an awkward distance and force him to dance around electrified cables, but MegaMan brought them down without even breaking a sweat, one AntiElec and Tomahawk Cross being enough.

ArsenalMan got a lucky hit on MegaMan initially, and quickly opened fire with all he had. But MegaMan shook the damage off easily enough and weaved through the rain of fire in almost impossible ways. It was like he knew everything that would happen in advance. Once he got in close, it was effectively over, even the ProtoMan chip failing to slow him down.

MathMan parried a few shots of the MegaBuster, but his openings to attack were limited to nearly nothing. Lan eventually picked out a NeoVariable sword, and that was that.

And finally, it was Treble's turn. "Here goes. Treble, destroy!"

Lan nodded. "Battle routine, set."

"Execute!"

Treble went in as hard and fast as possible. It was obvious his plan was to try and be aggressive enough to stop MegaMan ever attacking. A strategy that beating relied on either countering at the start, or having a good chip at your disposal. MegaMan took a superficial scrape, but it didn't even bug. Treble could have sworn he felt Gregar's smug emotions from the other side of the net.

"Barrier100, BubbleStar1, ElecSword, BattleChips in!" Said Lan.

"My word." Said Arthur. "Alright... MathMan, Navi chip in! And guard, in!"

MathMan's copy appeared, calmly advancing with blade ready. Treble walked forwards with it, waiting for it to make a blow. MegaMan dipped into range, baiting out a stroke, and the copy disappeared. Treble tried to attack, but a bubble suddenly suspended him in the air. MegaMan cut through with the ElecSword, dropping his health dangerously low.

Arthur frowned. "Well, might as well try it! ElementBreath, BugCharge, VariableSword! Program advance! Origin!"

Treble transformed, instantly towering over MegaMan.

Lan looked into his PET with fierce determination. "Beast Out!"

A ferocious roar sounded as MegaMan donned Gregar's armor. Treble looked at him in endeared confusion, before remembering he was in battle. "TAKE THIS!" He swiped with a claw, but MegaMan was suddenly lightning-fast and moving with feral rage, rather than careful strategy.

Arthur downloaded another chip. "Okay, sending an Elec chip!"

Treble inhaled, and blew yellow fire towards MegaMan. MegaMan leapt upwards, out of range, and brought his buster out with perfect accuracy, firing stright into Treble's mouth.

Lan smiled. "Hey, I've been meaning to try this! Cross system activate- Treble Beast!"

There was a small _ping_ as a ghostly copy of normal Treble appeared to move into Beasted MegaMan. The result was... interesting. The green armour gained a purple hue, the golden plates of the Beast suit cracked, and a yellow aura flared to life around MegaMan.

"Okay, stat readout!" Said Lan. "Attacks now inflict bugs... enemies that get too close will automatically recieve bugs, ooh, it refreshes the Beast counter, and the charged attack... removes inflicted bugs, and deals damage based on them."

MegaMan was in Treble's face the second Treble was vulnerable, slashing away his boosted HP. Treble was actually _knocked back_. Treble tried to counter with a huge swipe, but to Arthur's shock MegaMan simply stopped it with with his hands, as if he were an immovable object. MegaMan all but threw GS-Treble to the floor.

Treble's transformation disappeared, leaving him on his back. "I... can't move. No power left... Haaa..." He called.

MegaMan dropped out of Treble-cross, but retained Gregar's armor. "You okay?" His voice was recognisibly MegaMan, but the same grainy filter that GS-Treble used had been pasted over it. "It was a good fight. We agree. But you got a long way to go."

Gregar's armor dissipated. MegaMan took a deep breath. "Whew. Always a bit tiring to use that." He said with his normal voice.

"Just who is this Gregar, anyway? They seem to be like me, but... inside you, if that makes sense?" Said Treble.

"Treble, back." Called Arthur. "...Actually, finish your conversation."

MegaMan helped Treble to his feet, unaffected by the bugs. "Gregar was a cybeast, formed by a naturally occurring version of the bug fusion that made you. There are a lot of similarites between how he was and your original self, but... well, it's a long story, but what's left of them is part of my program now... I hope. It's hard to tell with programs that powerful. You better jack out, you're exhausted."

"Had you on the ropes." Said Treble, logging out.

* * *

Arthur looked around his friends, on the train back to their town. "So... when should we go and join SheepMan? Denny, you know this stuff best."

"From what we know, he's just a recruiting agent. One face of a larger organisation. But we should join him right away, and hope that leads us to our mark. What's the time now, one o' clock? We should have time for all our Navis and myself to join up. William, Joe- you two aren't going in directly. William's loyalties are all too clear and his social life says as much, and Joe has absolutely no reason to hate the officials at all. I'm the son of a criminal, and Arthur nearly had his Navi deleted, but Arthur- try not to seem massively enthusiastic. Just make it clear that you're not happy with the officials, because otherwise you'll tip them off." Said Denny.

"That's a solid plan. All in favor?" Said Joe.

"Yeah." Said Arthur.

"Yes." Said William. "As soon as we're back, we'll meet up online... the town square won't do for something this sensitive. Suggestions?"

"I think we should meet up in the Old Undernet. Even though MegaMan destroyed it, it's still too dangerous for people to go without reason." Said Joe.

"Agreed." Said Denny.

"Wait, what if Bass comes after Treble?" Said Arthur.

"He won't!" Reassured Treble. "I mean, he still wants to absorb me, but I think he has other things to do..."

"...I'll take your word for it. If Bass appears, we'll just run." Said Arthur.

"Right. We'll meet up at the Old Undernet's BBS. Everyone knows where it is, right?" Said Denny.

* * *

Half an hour later, Treble ran up to the Old BBS. Everyone else was already waiting.

"Never thought you'd be last here. We almost had to start posting stupid stuff to entartain ourselves." Commented PlugMan lightheartedly.

"Never thought I'd hear you seem interested in something." Said Treble.

"Is everyone ready?" Asked MathMan calmly.

"Yes, sir." Said ArsenalMan.

"Then lead the way, Treble." Said MathMan. "Oh, and Arthur- Remember you'll be operating me as well as Treble, while Denny operates ArsenalMan additionally. I'm blocking out Joe now."

Treble gestured towards the exit to the regular net. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait." Said... someone? The voice seemed serene and gentle, unfitting with the area once covered in darkness.

The Navis looked around in confusion for a second, seeing no other Navi nearby before PlugMan looked to MathMan. "Do you think it's a trap?"

"Let's not find out. We can't beat Bass yet." Said MathMan, before there was a shower of golden light.

A new Navi appeared in front of the BBS. Gold cloth wrapped their legs and upper body, and two sashes floated behind them. Impressively well textured dark skin was visible across their face and body. "I sense someone among you... An old enemy, and new ally. And three more, with the will to defeat darkness."

Treble looked at the newcomer. "Who are you?" _Why do I have this sense of Deja Vu again?_

"I am Serenade, Ruler of the UnderNet, new and old... those of you that seek to defeat the darkened one may earn my blessings through strength. When you are ready, come to the hidden paradise. There, show your strength..." The Navi faded away.

"Ruler of the UnderNet?" Said PlugMan. "Well, they did a great job of keeping order there." He rolled his eyes.

"It's probably nothing. Come on, let's go." Said MathMan.

"No... I think that was for real." Said Treble. "I remember her... she defeated Bass, once. A master of darkness and light. She lives in a secret area, where I died..." _Wait..._ "Um... no, I never died there!? That's not my memory...? Never mind, it must be a bug. Maybe I'll try and get that blessing she offered. Hopefully it'll help me get stronger. But anyway, time's wasting away here! Let's go!"

The four Navis moved for the online shop at top speed, easily facing off against any stray viruses that came close. It was only a short trip from the BBS to the edge of the area, and then another few minutes to reach the area with the town.

ArsenalMan looked at the unassuming shop. "I can't believe it was this place. Well, lead on Treble."

They entered the server. Treble walked up to the counter. "Special delivery!"

The clerk reached under the counter. "Ah, are you... perfectly sure, sir?" A text box appeared on the underside of the counter, out of view for a NetOp. '(2) Operators detected. Trustworthy?'

"Yep." Said Treble.

"Okay then!" The clerk flipped another under-the-counter switch, and the shop's entrance sealed. "Welcome, Navis and NetOps. I will assume our agent Treble has filled you in on our current goals- dealing with the officials. From this moment onwards, you will answer to him in matters regarding our operations in Electopia- even his NetOp. With that cleared, please step away from the central floor tile while I contact SheepMan."

Treble swished away from the counter, spinning to look at the video tile. As expected, SheepMan appeared. "Oh, dearest! Some new friends here today, I see!"

"Hey SheepMan. I got the Navis and NetOps I could trust to come in." Said Treble.

"Well, introduce yourselves, darlings! How are you finding our cozy little abode? You have quite the interesting network over there. So many corridors..." SheepMan brushed a nonexistent strand of hair away from his face.

"'sup. I'm PlugMan. Navi and NetOp for hire. Forty thousand Zennys a week. Buuut... we'll cut you a special rate, since you're helping us all out with this. Twenty thousand."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, realising Denny might not have given him a reduced rate.

"ArsenalMan, at your service. I owe it to my friends to deal with the officials, but my NetOp prevents me from doing so."

"I'm MathMan. I have been looking over all the statistics I can find... while my NetOp might not agree, I think the Officials in Electopia are falling into corruption. We must root it out now, or face the consequences." It was a lie, but it lined up quite well with SheepMan's own verbal facade.

"Hey. can you hear me?" Said Arthur.

"One second, darling..." SheepMan interacted with his own end of the connection with a serious face. His chair reclined. "Ahhhh, much better. Continue?"

"I'm Treble's NetOp. The officials tried to delete him for no good reason, without evidence. You have my support, as long as you don't abuse it." Said Arthur.

"Mmm. Nice to have you all. How was tea?"

"Uh, good? BugFrags are BugFrags, after all."

SheepMan comically recoiled. "Eugh, BugFrags? Why in the world would you ever eat one of those, dearest? Ooh, I shouldn't have asked. Now, step one of our operation is quite simple: we just need some evidence against those officials. I have a few files of my own, both video and text from other branches, but if you could contribute any of your own, I'd be _most_ appreciative."

"Hold it... Payroll?. I can still work a little, but we gotta get our cash from somewhere." Said PlugMan.

SheepMan raised an eyebrow. "Don't think we don't appreciate you, but we can't just give out our money in advance. We'll arrange an hourly rate, under the pretence of flexible contract work staffing the chip shop. It's an actual shop now, you know darling! We even have special stock for our... employees. Payday is every Friday, darling. But of course, that does mean if we go down, you'll be with us. Acceptable?" SheepMan flashed a charismatic smile.

"Yes. Now then... Oh... are you from Wirope?" Said PlugMan. "You know, you should really conceal where you're transmitting from better. If you got a bad recruit, they could easily trace a call from this thing!"

SheepMan paled. "Ah, um, gosh. I'm using the best security I have, darling..."

"Well, it's not hiding your IP. You're calling from... a certain institute." PlugMan left the words with a smug smile. "In fact... My goodness, it's as if your security system was actually publicly released, and I have enough experience breaking into it to cut right through. Care to assign me a better job?"

"Right... starting now, I have a special task for you. You're being upped to a sixty-thousand a week contract. Come to this server at ten PM, standard time. You are no longer a part of the Electopia branch, but the group's elite if you can get through security this easily. These skills make or break campaigns. Good to have you."

"Hey, congrats." Said MathMan.

"Yes, congratulations to the darling. PlugMan dearest, if you want to bring any of our other agents with you, then it's up to you to make sure that they're absolutely prepared- in every sense of the word. That'll be all, so toodles. Bring your evidence in by thursday." The screen closed.

Treble looked to PlugMan. "You just... got his location like that?!"

"Yeah. Seriously, with security you NEED to put a good Navi between me and your security system. I'm not a trained hacker, but the rest of the UnderNet taught me how to break a thing or two. So. Chip lady. What's in stock?" Said PlugMan.

The cashier typed up a document. "You can order anything in house or from our national supply. Delete the document when you're done. The rest of you, take this." She handed over another document. "Not our full stock, but you'll find some good chips."

Treble scanned the list. It was absolutely outrageous. At least five different Giga chips, about thirty different Mega chips, and so many different standard chips that they filled up two pages. "Arthur, how much money do we have?" Said Treble.

Arthur took a look. "We're pretty low on funds. Only seven thousand, six hundred zenny left."

"Aw... They have some dark megachips here, and I bet they'd be pretty useful. They sound good too, Anubis, BlackWing, Muramasa, BugCurse... Oh hey, they have a BugCharge! But they're all way outside our range..."

"Eh, we can come back later. Bug based Navis are pretty rare compared to standard ones. How much is in stock for those chips?"

"Three each. If I took a guess..." He looked at the clerk. "They must be popular."

The clerk shook her head. "No sir, they are only available to Navis in our service. If you want to make a deposit and reserve one, we can do that."

"What does each chip do?" Asked Arthur.

"Anubis places a poison-emitting artifact, that harms mearby enemies over time. Useful for defensive Navis. BlackWing summons a horde of bats, more if you have more bugs. Muramasa is a very famously powerful sword chip, that has attack equal to the damage you've suffered. BugCurse randomly inflicts many bugs on your target." Explained the clerk. "I can't reserve BugCharge or Muramasa, since we only have one."

PlugMan looked up from his list. "What's this chip here?" He showed the document to the clerk.

"Ah, that's a very expensive choice... And a national favorite in Wirope, or so I'm told. SheepMan's only ever gotten that one copy, in fact. And he's very well connected." Said the clerk. "The Wiropean polar opposite of Muramasa: Excalibur. It deals damage equal to the total damage you've inflicted to the enemy in the battle. SheepMan's supplied some other Wiropean chips too, if you check. I don't know the difference between the standard chips of our country and his, but I've memorised the mega and giga ones. I must say, whoever leads this little orgainsation did well recruiting him, for the resources alone."

"Hmm... I'd take it, but I can't. Still, some of these look pretty nice. I'll call back later when I've thought of a decent folder to use one." He deleted the document.

"Well, bye for now!" Said Treble. He left the shop, followed by his friends.

PlugMan looked back. "Let's return to the old UnderNet. We can talk freely there."

* * *

Back at the Old BBS, PlugMan faced the other three Navis after confirming the area was secure. "Okay, first of all: Treble and Arthur, you're coming with us on this secret mission. We're probably going to be breaking into an official system, so give Chaud a warning in case you get arrested. Second: I know exactly where SheepMan has been transmitting from, the idiot has been using the head of staff's suite at the Eurasia institute. Perhaps not enough to convice a foreign court they're guilty, but obviously he's operated by someone with high security clearance there. Third: those foreign chips might be worth looking into. Some of them will be useful."

"Okay! So... what about MathMan and ArsenalMan?"

ArsenalMan stepped forwards. "I... have a personal project I've been working on with William. He's a good programmer, remember. I know this might sound strange, but we're working on an improved version of the BugStop customisation program. The current one just stops any bugs in a NaviCust, a bit pointless given that they're easy to configure anyway, but I think William might be able to make one that will allow me to touch you when your passive ability is active. That opens new realms for combat strategies."

MathMan was left. "I'm going to try and get my hands on some funds for us. We're going to need some cash at some point, so we should be proactive about it."

"Okay... I'm going to hunt down some viruses. I'm getting stronger, but I could use more chips and BugFrags, especially iuf I'm going to help PlugMan." Added Treble.

"Okay then. Everyone, go." Said PlugMan.

* * *

Treble and Arthur worked tirelessly through the night, farming as many BugFrags and chips and tiny amounts of Zenny as they could. By the end of it, they had a small pile of BugFrags, a few new chips, and an extra two thousand Zenny.

Arthur took a note of how many BugFrags they'd obtained. "Okay, ten BugFrags... not bad. Dig in."

Treble didn't hesitate to start wolfing down the chunks of data. "Mmmhm!"

Arthur watched the maximum health increase as each BugFrag was converted to armor. "Okay, Four hundred and eighty-five health. Pretty good. Honestly, we'll catch up to the others pretty quick at this rate. I wonder if there's a cap on this? Normal Navis can only use HP memories up to 1000 health, but you can get customisations for bonus health, and Navi Customiser programs too... even if we can't use them."

"Fifteen hundred." Said Treble, finishing the last BugFrag.

"Oh. Wait, how do you know?" Said Arthur.

"When the Hikaris were working on me. They manually expanded the cap to hit 1500, apparently before, it would only have hit some random number in the fourteen hundreds. And at that point, I think my transformed health will hit 3000, as well. Dang, still not as much as Bass. Where's he gotten that extra 400 from?" Said Treble.

"Mmm... Doesn't he have cybeast Falzar inside him? Surely that improves his durability. Plus all that other stuff. He might be running a NaviCust, but with a buster like that... Anyway. I'd better rest for the battle tomorrow. No way we're going to have an easy time."

"Did you remember to tell Chaud?"

"Yeah. But we don't have the details we'd need to have an official ready to intervene. See you in the morning."

"G'night!"

* * *

The following day, Treble visited Denny's homepage, waiting for PlugMan to come online. Eventually, he appeared.

"Are you ready? You're a competent fighter, but you've got to be totally prepared for this." Said PlugMan.

"I was bor- glitched into being ready!" Said Treble.

"Then follow me. And pray that we're doing this alone."

"Hey, before we leave the server... how long will it take for the officials to close in on SheepMan?"

"I don't know. International stuff is annoying. But not for a few months. The easiest thing to do would be to tip off the officials in his country, but if they're working with him... then we're both going to be sent into a trap. Come on. Tight schedule. I have people to act lazy in front of." Said PlugMan.

"Gotcha!"

It was a short trip to reach a link to the wider net, where PlugMan entered a side server. Another Navi was waiting. They had a brass helmet with two solid green lights for eyes, and the majority of their body was a mass of copper pipes, with a thick coating of water forming a large ball of a Navi. "PlugMan?" the voice came out like a large stone being thrown into water.

"That's me. I've brought Treble as backup. Our mission?"

"Right, let me introduce myself. I'm PumpMan. Deputy leader of the elite task force. Good as it gets. I'm coming with you for this mission. We must ensure the officials can't counter our shock attack on friday by just taking down all the information we post, so we must break the master access to the BBS boards. Got it?"

"Yep!"

"Yes."

"Right. PlugMan, you're going to be breaking through the security. I and Treble will keep the security off you. Remember, don't let anyone get away. Delete, or capture if you want to merciful. We can erase the memory manually. Once you're in, I'll destroy it and flood the area. Then there'll be no widespread administration for the BBS." Said PumpMan. "Come, our window is only twenty minutes."

PumpMan led PlugMan and Treble out of the server, back into the wider net. He followed a well-rehearsed route this way and that, until eventually coming to a large door. "Ok, I have a key for the first level. Once we're in, try not to trip any alarms." he pressed the access key to the glowing gate, and it disappeared.

The three Navis moved through the administrative facility quickly. Eventually, they came to another door. "PlugMan, break it. We'll cover you."

Treble and PumpMan faced away, while PlugMan went to work. Fry this bit of data here, that one there, and hold this combination of inputs... and hey presto, the door reset to factoy settings. Plugman knew the code was now 0001, but he first punched in 1000. The reason being that it would hopefully trip an alarm. He opened the door. "Clear."

"Right, let's move. We have a map, just one more door..." Said PumpMan.

They navigated the next area for a minute, until they rounded the corner into a LOT of Navis, generic and custom alike. All were armed. PumpMan's eyes went from green to red. "Harrumph. Water flood!" His body instantly discharged a massive amount of water into the crowd of Navis. Most were deleted. A few hung on. To Arthur's horror, PlugMan stepped in and deleted three, before looking at the remaining few and tying them up with cables. Treble wasn't going to admit it, but his other self felt... kind of good seeing that much deletion. He shook his head, spraying a bit of water to each side.

PlugMan looked to PumpMan. "You better stay behind and make sure we have a way out. Me and Treble will take it from here."

"Right..." Said PumpMan.

"Come on!" Said Treble. "No time to waste!"

They ran off for the last door, while PumpMan braced for reinforcements.

They reached it and PlugMan gave a short, singular laugh. "Seriously?" He said. He reached in and entered a code. "Of all security models, they went with THAT. These guys could have military stuff if they wanted. Even I can't get through that." The door deactivated. "Right... you go delete PumpMan. The officials will be here in a minute, and they know who to aim for."

"Will do." Said Treble. "You're... not gonna break that system are you?"

"If I don't then we'll be thrown into question as agents. We break it, and let SheepMan's plan proceed until we have something good on him. Now go."

"Right."

Treble ran down the stairs, to the area PumpMan was protecting. "PumpMan!" Called Treble.

PumpMan turned. "Yes?"

"You got something in your eye." Said Treble, jumping up and driving his right claws through PumpMan's left eye.

"Agh! Y-you traitor! No matter. I'll delete you and the BBS system myself." Said PumpMan, lumbering forwards. "Water Flood!" A tide of water surged forwards. Treble weathered the attack easily enough.

"Chips!" Said Treble.

"ZapRing, and Thunder, in!"

Treble fired a ZapRing immediately, and was suitably disappointed when PumpMan wasn't paralysed.

"Heh. Pipeline!" PumpMan placed a hand onto the floor.

Treble went in and hit PumpMan with the Thunder attack. "How much health do you have?!" He yelled, furiously scratching PumpMan.

"More than you." Pipeheads appeared all around the floor, and each suddenly spouted water. Treble was knocked off his feet, and carried back.

"Bluh. Arthur, I need more firepower." Treble picked himself up, the water running off his body.

"One second..." Arthur considered sending the Origin advance, but these water spouts... even if they couldn't penetrate Treble's defences, they could definitely keep him off balance long enough to waste the advance. "Alright, ElementBreath, and Damage +10, in!"

Treble weaved through the network of pipes, trying to get in close, but they formed a curtain of water.

"Hoh, it's no good. I can stay safe here until I'm ready to attack, and whatever chip you got then, you can't use it on my barrier because you need it for me."

Treble stopped, realising there was something he needed to know. He positioned himself carefully, then closed his eyes and sniffed. What bugs had he inflicted on PumpMan?

 _Minor emotional discord. Movement problems. And... there's my answer- a slight bug in water generation. He can't keep this barrier up forever..._

He waited, ever wary of stepping too close to another pipe. And then, he saw his opening. For one moment, the curtain of water weakened. Without hesitating, Treble threw himself through, the water eroding his defences quickly. He sidestepped PumpMan's close range attack, an orb of water, and took a deep breath. He exhaled yellow, elec-element flames over PumpMan, who took a heavy step back at the damage.

The orb of water rebounded, and smacked Treble in the head. He fell over forwards, scrambling to his feet.

Arthur didn't give up, even as Treble's health dropped to twenty. "We have to end this! Sword, WideSword, LongSword! Program Advance- SoulSword!"

The ethereal blade appeared on Treble's arm, beautiful and deadly. "SoulSword!" Echoed Treble. He swung it through PumpMan with all his might, and PumpMan staggered back.

"Aaaaggh... I'll- I'll"

Treble jumped in, and drove a claw through PumpMan's other eye. PumpMan was deleted.

Treble collapsed, holding a hand over his midesection. "G-got em. Log me out?"

"What about PlugMan... Oh!" Arthur noticed just how low Treble's health was. PumpMan must have been attacking to the end. "Right, logging you out. Good job."

 **Author's notes: So one thing I haven't mentioned yet is MegaMan's Copy bot. He still has it, but I haven't shown him in it yet because I truthfully haven't had a reason to. But rest assured, it's not forgotten. Gahhh, it's so late right now.**

 **Also, Europe= Wirope. Because Battle Network.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: I hope what I provided will help. On one hand it's pretty cool to give someone artistic freedom, on the other I want my characters to be just as envisioned.**

 **Guest: Here we go, Beast-out MegaMan versus Treble, results surprising nobody. As for riding Treble to victory, that's not an impossibility. Bass-Cross has a scarf, while Regular Bass has a cloak. I'd respond more, but I'm dying to sleep.**

 **RushAlias: Me too.**


	11. Chapter 11: Collision

Arthur sent Treble to the fake chip shop, but changed his mind halfway through and sent him to wait at Denny's homepage. He sent Denny a message.

'Denny, is PlugMan alright? We had to log out after we beat PumpMan. We're waiting at yours so we can return together.'

Almost intantly, a reply came through.

'He's okay. ProtoMan made it to the scene in record time. We need to agree on a cover story. If anyone asks, Treble and PumpMan fought against ProtoMan together, and when PumpMan was deleted you used that as an opportunity to escape. I completely trashed the override system, it'll have to be redone from the ground up. Now it's just a matter of getting more information on SheepMan.'

Arthur closed the message as PlugMan logged in. "Treble. Good job."

"It was fun!" Said Treble.

"Come on. Let's go break the news. Try not to look overjoyed." Said PlugMan, walking out into the net.

* * *

SheepMan was aghast. "PumpMan... deleted? It can't be."

"I'm afraid it's true. ProtoMan is too strong." Said Treble.

SheepMan sighed. "Well, I suppose it's ultimately of little consequence. We'll look into restoring him, the dear. And thanks to your efforts, our operation can proceed."

PlugMan narrowed his eyes. "Media bombardment, am I right?"

"In a nutshell, darling. We'll make public every last drop of information we have on the officials. They can oppose us quite easily, but the whole of Electopia? Not so."

Treble nodded. "Well... my NetOp's pretty tired right now, and the next round of our tournament's coming up tomorrow. Wish me luck?"

SheepMan smiled "Oh, the nationals? Of course. I'll tune in, darling. See you!"

Treble left. SheepMan looked to PlugMan. "I'll have a new assignment for you shortly. But also... our own scans have picked up a hint of something very powerful to the west of your area. Send someone to investigate, would you, darling?"

* * *

Arthur sat up with a yawn, the sun peeping into his room.

"Arthur! You're gonna be late for the tournament!" Said Treble.

Arthur stopped mid-yawn. "Oh no! Not after getting this far!" He threw himself through the morning routine, dashed outside and started running. While still running, he opened the PET. "Hey, do I have any mail?"

"Yeah! Yeah we got areally exciting one!"

"Read it to me."

"Okay... from Chaud: Good work last night. Accept this a reward for deleting that Navi. We're close to being able to open a link to our target now that we have the location."

"What did he give us?"

"A battlechip! PumpMan P. Huh, he sure hunted down the ghost fast..."

Arthur walked into school just in time, to see Denny talking with William. He jogged over. "Hi guys!"

"Arthur!" Said William. "Good job. Denny's filled us in... are you ready for the next round of the competition?"

"Yeah! It's been a bit of a whirl since the last one... even if they started spacing out the battles now that we're down to the tougher foes. Treble, who're we up against?"

William held up a hand. "Me and ArsenalMan. Good luck Arthur, we're not going to pull any punches."

Arthur wiped a hand across his brow. "Ohhh. Alright, no holding back. See you in the netbattle machine."

"YA-HOO!" Shouted Treble. "We're-gonna-fight-Arsenalman, oh yeah!"

"I better work out a strategy." Said Arthur, quickly walking inside. "Treble, he's mainly dangerous in that he has a lot of ranged damage, right?"

"Yeah. His melee skills are pretty weak, too... but William has AreaSteal and the AirShoes chip. Good thing he doesn't have the NaviCust programs for AirShoes or FloatShoes, I'd never catch the guy."

"Hmm. Well, I have an AreaSteal of my own, but how to counter those AirShoes?"

"I could try and bug him?"

"Maybe, but bugs aren't too reliable. And if we never get in close thanks to the AirShoes, we can't bug him..."

"Can I help?" Said Joe.

"Joe! You startled me there. I'm trying to work out a strategy for beating ArsenalMan. We can definitely beat him if we can get in close, but he has an AirShoes chip we can't deal with..." Said Arthur.

Joe shrugged. "I might be able to offer something helpful. Try these codes on your VariableSword. Up, Right, Left will make a WideSword, which is easy enough to remember, but... Treble? Can you hear me? Make a note of this one, it's a good ranged attack. Left, B, Right, B. When you swing the sword it'll fire a SonicBoom."

"Maybe that'll give us the edge we need." Said Arthur.

"I'm game to try it! Unless Joe's gonna give us a chip." Said Treble.

"Hah, no. You're at quite an advantage already." Said Joe.

* * *

In two hours time, Arthur was waiting with William in the chip shop. Now that the fights were being spaced out, the machine was being given custom dialogue for each Navi.

"You ready?" Said Arthur.

"Yep!" Said Treble.

"...Yeah. I'm ready for you." Said William. "So is ArsenalMan."

"Would the NetOps please connect to the machine?" Said an attendant.

"Treble, hunt!"

"ArsenalMan, to attention!"

The two Navis appeared in columns of light. Unlike the normal light blue, the machine recoloured ArsenalMan's to olive and Treble's to purple.

'On the left side, with the immense yet mysterious power of bugs, we have Treble! And on the right, the model military Navi, ArsenalMan! The fifth round of the tournament begins in Three! Two! ONE!'

"Treble, destroy! Areasteal, in!"

"ArsenalMan, to war! Wind, download!"

Treble tensed, anticipating the first round of fire. Wind. He hadn't realised how well that synergised with ArsenalMan's need to keep him at a distance... _I have to destroy it the moment it appears. I'll use the AreaSteal to get in close._

ArsenalMan opened fire, and Treble started running forwards. A few bullets clipped him, but he largely slipped through, getting closer, and then the WindBox appeared. Treble was swept off his feet. "AreaSteal!"

He reappeared behind the WindBox, and ripped the top off with his claws. It disintegrated. ArsenalMan didn't miss a beat, firing at Treble's back and knocking his health down further.

"Here we go, BugBomb, and Guard, in!" Said Arthur.

"M-Cannon, MachGun2 in!" Countered William.

Treble charged, and pitched the BugBomb at ArsenalMan with full force. ArsenalMan didn't flinch, drawing his M-cannon and firing into the airborne projectile. The bomb exploded, but the blast didn't penetrate, and then Treble was upon ArsenalMan, claws easily outmatching ArsenalMan's awkward guns and totally wasting the MachGun. Still, that olive armor held.

William frowned. "Airshoes, and... Spreader, triple download. Load HyperBurst!"

Treble focused. This was the moment that would make or break the fight. He had to negate that HyperBurst. ArsenalMan leapt into the air, hovering out of reach of Treble's claws.

Treble realised something- ArsenalMan hadn't displayed any bugs, yet he'd been hit more than a few times, why..? he watched ArsenalMan's buster closely... There.

The Guard took the brunt of the HyperBurst, but the explosion actually outlasted the Guard's duration and got through to Treble. His health melted away, leaving him damaged all over with 235 health. But he smiled. "Haha, now it's MY turn!"

"You got it buddy! VariableSword, in! Left B Right B!" Shouted Arthur.

"ArsenalMan, remain focused. It's time... ColonelArmy, Attack +10, download!" Said William.

Treble formed the sword on his hand, as two green-clad soldier programs breifly emerged to shoot at him. They weren't present for long, but each fired a painful round of bullets into Treble, leaving him dangerously low on health. Treble dodged to the side, very closely skirted around a missile blast and then, in one critical moment, held the sword to one side. ArsenalMan panicked, and dashed upwards, but that was just what Treble had been hoping for. The SonicBoom crashed into ArsenalMan and knocked him out of the sky, and as he fell Treble put all his force into one devastating uppercut loaded with every bug he had. It cleaved through one of ArsenalMan's back guns, but what happened next wasn't expected even by Treble.

ArsenalMan got to his feet, but then collapsed, flashing with yellow dots and glowing slightly. He looked up. "You... you overloaded the BugStop..." There was a tremendous explosion, small bits of data flew left and right and everyone's vision was obscured. The smoke cleared, to reveal ArsenalMan glitching up on the floor, his Navi emblem having blown apart. "Uuugh... U-undershirt... finish it."

Treble carefully poked him.

'ArsenalMan, forced logout successful. Congratulations, Treble!'

"ArsenalMan... are you okay?" Said William.

"Y-yeah... the... BugStop Plus didn't make it... sir." Choked ArsenalMan.

"It's okay. I'm putting you in standby, that's a nasty chunk of data gone."

"Treble, what did you do to the guy?" Said Arthur.

"I just... bugged him up! The explosion was a bonus." Said Treble.

"I can explain." Said William. "I created a better version of BugStop, BugStop Plus. It can stop any bugs occurring in a Navi as long as they're powerful enough. Treble overpowered ArsenalMan, and the program failed, causing all those bugs to happen, and I was running a NaviCust that would have bugged out as well without that. The result just completely overloaded him."

"Oh. Well... well fought, I better win this tournament for you too now, I guess." Said Arthur.

* * *

Later, on the net, the four Navis were in contact with SheepMan.

"Today is Monday. Come Friday, we'll have the officials felled in one simple swoop. But, there are still some loose ends that must be taken care of." Said SheepMan.

"Like what? The BBS is secure, nobody even knows that there's an organisation going for the officials, and even if they did, they don't have the means to track you down in only a few days." Said Treble.

"Oh no, our victory is assured. But if we don't investigate this, said victory may turn to ash. I'm familiar with the cybeast incident that happened to you over there, and... we found a leaked document suggesting that one or both have resurfaced. We scanned the area, and found a power signature to the west that is a good match to them. And it wouldn't be responsible to let them run loose again. I'd like to order you to hunt them down. We have confirmed they're in one of these areas, and your branch is closest. There's the online area for the surrounding villages, and the local UnderNet." Said SheepMan.

"Hmm. There's a LOT of ground to cover on that town area." Commented Arthur. "We'll have to split ourselves up to get it done by friday."

"I'll take the UnderNet. Not like anyone else can." Said PlugMan.

"Okay... so I'll handle the furthest area, since I have the most time." Said Treble.

"And I'll handle that chunk off to the side, by the same logic. ArsenalMan, your NetOp is a busy guy and we know it, but you should be able to check over this place, right?" Said MathMan.

"Yes, ally. It may take a few days, however." Said ArsenalMan softly. "What should we do in an encounter?"

"Evaluate the threat level and judge whether it's possible to either capture or delete them." Said SheepMan.

"...What about recruiting them?" Said Treble, thinking of his own situation.

SheepMan laughed. "I don't think that's at all possible darling. They're beasts! They can't be reasoned with."

"...okay. Look, if anyone finds the beast called Gregar... I'd be interested in seeing them!" Said Treble.

"Very well. But if they're out of control, I'll have to delete them first." Said MathMan.

"I'll leave you four to it. Just make sure you find them some time in the next four days, darlings. If you can't beat them, then the officials will make for some rather delectable cannon fodder." Said SheepMan. "Toodles!" The video cut out.

PlugMan looked to the clerk. "Hey. I have a question... can I place an order for something other than chips?"

"Yes sir, within reason."

"Then if you've got any, I'd like to buy some BugFrags." Said PlugMan.

The clerk opened a chat link to another, identical clerk. "Do we have any BugFrags in our supply?"

"No. I have eleven personally if you want to transfer them, and split the profit with me." Replied the other clerk.

"Sir, we'll sell you them for a thousand Zenny each. Not much on your paycheck, but still a good rate for us." Offered the clerk.

"I accept. Here." PlugMan handed over the Zenny.

"Okay, give us a moment to transfer them..." Said the clerk. "Eleven BugFrags." She handed them over.

"Thanks. Come on guys, nothing more to do here." Said PlugMan. They followed him out of the shop.

The instant they were outside, Treble bounced around on his feet. "Are they for me?!"

"Haha, yeah- On one condition." Smirked PlugMan. "I want to keep whatever chip you spit out. Deal?"

"Deal! But I'll have to transform to spit out the chip." Said Treble, without hesitating. "Arthur, send me the advance!"

"Erm, if you're sure you want to give it away... Here you go." Said Arthur. There was a click as the chips were slotted in.

Treble tried to transform with less of a shock, but everyone was still knocked back. He opened his mouth. "JUST THROW THEM IN!"

PlugMan lazily tossed the BugFrags into Treble's enormous mouth. He closed and swallowed, as his health shot up. His base health was at 560, transformed health double that.

Treble opened his mouth. "MLEH." A chip fell out. "WHAT DID YOU GET?"

PlugMan picked up the data. "Well, I'd say that it was worth the eleven thousand Zenny." He held up a chip.

MathMan looked at the chip. "Wow. A Giga-class Navi chip?"

"BassAnomaly." Said ArsenalMan. "What does it say?"

"Hell's rolling 4 times." Said PlugMan. "Wow. I'm... actually impressed. Hey Treble, this could delete you in one use while you're not transformed."

"YEAH, BUT YOU WOULDN'T USE IT ON ME."

ArsenalMan looked up at Treble. "Treble, when you're transformed, I've seen you convert attacks to different ones. What happens if you put in a program advance?"

Treble took half a second to realise that he hadn't tested that. "ARTHUR?"

"Wait, not here." Said Arthur. "Go to the Old Undernet, it's already trashed."

"FOLLOW ME GUYS!" Said Treble, walking off towards the Old Undernet. The others trailed behind him, curious and also a little terrified, like when a friend has a homemade firework.

They arrived in the Old Undernet, and looked around. MathMan saw a virus first. "Look over there, a Spikey3. I'd say that's a decent target."

"HEY ARTHUR, IT'S THE ONE THAT DELETED YOUR OLD NAVI! TIME FOR SOME REVENGE!" Said Treble.

Arthur smiled. "Normally I wouldn't praise that... but screw it. Time for some old-fashioned vengeance. ArsenalMan, can I borrow your Spreader E? I feel like a ranged advance will be more impressive."

"Hold on, I want to reconnect to William anyway." Said ArsenalMan. "Connection established. Sir, can we lend Arthur a Spreader E?"

Arthur recieved an email in a few seconds.

'You can keep it. We have two. Consider it a reward for beating us earlier.' Attached was a Spreader E.

"Alright, here goes. Three Spreaders, in! Program advance, HyperBurst!"

The many cracks in Treble's armor started glowing with energy. The air around him charged, and PlugMan took a few steps back. The glow grew more intense, his eyes actually crackling with red lightning. MathMan lowered his head and put his hands over his ears. The air charge grew enough to start causing discomfort, and ArsenalMan ducked. Treble took a deep breath, revealing a dangerous light at the back of his throat.

"YAAA **AAAA AAAA _AAHHHH!"_**

The attack fired. Arthur watched the PET's speakers cut out, and the screen was replaced with pure white, to his concern.

MathMan, despite having been standing by the 'safe' end of Treble, was blown away like a plastic bag in a hurricane. He flew right over several walkways, and hit an old digital curtain with a _whump._

ArsenalMan was also lifted off the floor, and given a spectacular aerial view of the destruction.

PlugMan's many loose cables were lifted straight back by the force, and while he resisted, he eventually was thrown onto his back.

The Spikey3 never saw it coming. It and every other virus in a ninety-degree angle was deleted instantly, not even individual bytes of data remaining.

Parts of the walkway disintegrated, the section closest to Treble simply vanishing and the parts further away losing the texture files and reverting to a basic wireframe, shattered in many places. Fragments of the tough program were launched around and buried themselves in a few other walkways, breaking them out of shape.

The background of the area took a second hit, the first having been from Bass when he and MegaMan fought. The file was deleted, and the background of the area changed to 'crashed computer blue'.

Treble himself could barely take the recoil, the force dragging him back a little, his giant claws tearing short holes in the floor where he'd dug them in.

In the Secret Area, four rooms away from the blast, Serenade felt a tremor and shrugged.

The PET screen returned to normal. GS-Treble was breathing heavily.

"JUST... GONNA... TAKE A REST." He said, pulling his claws out of the floor and stiffly walking a few paces back to admire the destruction. He lay on his side, not bothering to change back. "HOW WAS THAT?"

PlugMan coughed. "Pretty good. A 1000 damage attack might be the best I've ever seen. Did anyone get the name? My analytical program overloaded."

"Yeah, I got... it. Vanishing World." ArsenalMan gazed out over where there had previously been walkways. It was all gone until a very far distance, where unstable wireframes were. But the fragments had formed two long walkways of data smashed together, even if they started a few steps away, from a different piece of the path. "Appropriate."

MathMan stood up slowly. "Perhaps with that we can oppose Bass?"

"WE'D... HAVE TO ACTUALLY HIT HIM... AND IT'S... EXHAUSTING. BUT SO, SO, GREAT." Said Treble.

PlugMan looked around. "I could paralyse him. We'll obviously need to fight Bass together, in order to beat him. It should be a pretty effective Coup."

Arthur recieved an Email.

'From: Chaud

We've detected an extreme spike in Cybeast power near you, in the old Undernet. We need an immediate response, so can you go and find out what just happened?'

Arthur scratched his arm sheepishly. "Ohhh dear. Guys... I think we just gave the officials a heart attack."

PlugMan chuckled. MathMan and ArsenalMan looked worried. Treble looked up. "SO? WE DID NOTHING WRONG."

Arthur tapped out a reply. 'Sorry, that was Treble. I tried giving him a program advance to see what attack it would convert to.'

'Please don't do that in the main net. Thank you for the honesty. But also, we could use some help with another cybeast matter.' Replied Chaud.

"Hey Treble. I think Chaud wants us to help find out about the other cybeast presence too. Come back for now, we might need to be ready for it." Said Arthur.

"OK." Treble dropped out of his original form, and returned to the PET. "Wow, Chaud actually called upon us to help."

'We'd love to help. SheepMan did tell us about a potential resurgence of one of the cybeasts, and asked us to look for them and defeat them. Do you have any info that could help?'

'One of our operatives lost against a Navi with almost the full code of a cybeast yesterday. Granted, he was weakened at the time, but these foes are dangerous. I've got a report here. [Gregar, navi. Has displayed a powerful buster, resistance to force akin to a SuperArmor NaviCust program, extreme strength and dangerous claw attacks. The claw attacks have not exhibited bug-infilcting properties. Also capable of manifesting an energy that matches Lan Hikari's description of a Cybeast's soul, as a weapon. Whether it is actually his soul or data relating to his original form is unclear. Is it not recommended to engage this target alone. Also, he did not strike a deleting blow after defeating my Navi, although it is possible he assumed the last attack finished him.] If you're willing to try and keep them busy while we muster a specialised team, we'd be appreciative.'

"Guys, I think we'd better prioritse finding those cybeasts. If news of this got out, everyone would panic." Said Arthur.

"...Right. We'll have to get looking immediately. Country first." Said ArsenalMan.

* * *

"Nothing here, either? We've been up all night..." Said Arthur.

"Nah, I don't smell anything remotely like either of the beasts. Unless the smells changed a lot when they fused with MegaMan and Bass." Said Treble.

"I just..." Arthur yawned. "We're going to have to stop searching for now. I can barely think straight. It's three AM."

"Oh no!" Said Treble.

"What?!" Said Arthur, sitting bolt upright.

"You're going to be exhausted for the tournament tomorrow! Arthur, you gotta go to bed!" Said Treble. "I'm not losing it because you're still asleep! Arthur?"

Arthur was snoring, face on the desk.

"Oh. Um. Well, good!" Said Treble.

* * *

"Arthur! Arthur! Wake uuuuup!" Shouted Treble, a few centmetres from his ear.

Arthur rolled over, and out of the seat. He hit the floor with a bump. "So... tired."

"Well yeah you've had about five hours sleep. Come on, you'll be late!" Said Treble.

Arthur very slowly looked down, and realised he'd never changed into pyjamas. "M'kay." He picked himself off the floor, and slowly exited his room.

"Mind the stairs." Said Treble.

Arthur was careful descending, having almost forgotten how to work his legs. He put some toast in the toaster, turned it on and left the house when the toast popped up. The toast sat sadly in the top of the appliance as the front door closed.

"Watch out for the road!" Said Treble. "Seriously, letting you stay up being responsible about the net was a terrible idea."

Arthur nodded. "Sorry. Not woken up properly yet."

"Did you at least remember to take our chips?"

"Er... Oh yeah, they're in my pocket." Said Arthur. "Better get going." He walked onwards, to school.

* * *

Upon reaching the building, he made a beeline for his classroom, and slumped in his chair. "Wake me when you need me." He said, and put his head forwards on the desk, eyes closed.

"Sure. Can you jack me in first?" Said Treble.

"..." Arthur picked up the PET and sent Treble into the network.

"Thanks!"

About an hour later, William poked Arthur awake. "Your match is starting soon. You better get ready."

Arthur sat up. "Oh, got it. Treble, back."

Treble reappeared in the PET. "C'mon, we gotta go!"

"Gotcha. I'm feeling much better now." Arthur picked up his PET and walked off to the shop.

Once inside, he looked around. "Hey Treble, who are we fighting? I should really look this stuff up in advance..."

"BladeMan and Kaden Pryce."

"Hey, are you Arthur?" Arthur looked to the side, and nodded at a ginger-haired boy. "I'm Kaden. You've got a pretty big win streak going, but we'll end it."

"Sorry. A bit tired here." Mumbled Arthur.

"All the better. We're gonna win!" Said Kaden.

"Would Arthur Penn and Kaden Pryce please prepare for a netbattle?" Said the store owner.

They walked around to the netbattle machine. Arthur did his best to get focused. "Treble, hunt!"

"BladeMan, slice n' dice!"

Treble got his first look at BladeMan, as he came down in a pillar of red light. They were fully customised, with thin red armor all over, but knives plating their shoulders and lower legs. Most strikingly, though... they had one long, impressive-looking sword that was straight through their own chest. They placed a hand on the grip and slowly drew it out, pointing it to Treble.

Treble tiled his head. "Are you from Wirope?"

"We're exchange students, dummy!" Said Kaden.

Arthur's eyes widened at the revelation. "That's the first I've heard. Anyway, there's a battle for now."

'On one side, we have Treble, rising star who triumphed over even ArsenalMan! And the other, BladeMan, representing all Wirope to our school! Three! Two! One! GO!'

BladeMan swung his sword precisely in an upwards cut, but Treble jumped out of range, coming down and slashing at him. To Treble's surprise, BladeMan parried two of his three cuts.

"...Amateurish." Said BladeMan. Treble just smirked, watching his one cut start to bug.

"Okay, Battlechips! AreaSteal, UnifyCode, and KnightSword!" Said Kaden.

"...UnifyCode? Never mind- Spreaders, in! Program- oh, oops! Wrong order!" Said Arthur.

Treble growled, recieving Spreaders in the order D, C, E. "Take this!"

He fired the first one at BladeMan, trying to take him by surprise. BladeMan was faster, AreaStealing to Treble's right and quickly swinging the KnightSword. It caught Treble, and his health dropped, but after all the BugFrags he'd gotten from Denny his armor could just take 150 damage without worrying. He ducked and clawed at BladeMan's leg, as BladeMan swung his main sword around to try and cut at his head. Treble pushed forwards to try and topple his enemy, but BladeMan twisted, using the attack against Treble. Treble crashed to the floor, and rolled to one side to avoid the sword swing. He got up, and used the next Spreader, this time catching BladeMan in the arm.

"What?! No parry?!" Said Kaden.

"Milord, I feel sluggish all of a sudden. I need to do some damage." Said BladeMan.

"Right! I know what you're planning!" Said Kaden. "Guard3, in!"

Treble fired the third Spreader, but the Guard3 bounced it back at him. He flinched at the powerful shockwave, and BladeMan rushed in and cut with his sword. Treble's health was getting dangerously low.

"Hold on, Treble! Thunder, ElementBreath, in!" Said Arthur.

Treble wasted no time in bowling the small ball of electricity towards BladeMan. BladeMan tried to get back, but Treble moved in to harry him with his claws, and the Thunder made contact. While paralysed, Treble took a breath and blew green fire over his target.

"Now we've got you! Excalibur!" Said Kaden.

The sword in BladeMan's hands was replaced with a majestic blade. It was a broadsword of gleaming silver metal, with an elaborate golden handle, and a radiant glow emanating from the blade.

"By the holy Excalibur, you are finished!" Said BladeMan, leaping into the air to make a mighty overhead strike with the royal blade.

Arthur didn't have time to send a chip, but Treble had no intention of taking the hit, in the gutsiest way possible. He leapt up, and performed arguably the most impressive move Arthur had ever seen. Instead of making an attack at BladeMan's exposed body, he struck BladeMan's arm, as BladeMan tried to bring down Excalibur to bat Treble out of the air.

BladeMan landed, still holding Excalibur. "I won't drop this blade!"

"You _will_." Said Treble. "Because I've bugged your sight. Parry this!" He walked forwards, BladeMan's desperate swing missing completely, and swiped his claws across BladeMan's chest. " _Drop it."_

BladeMan dropped Excalibur. "I concede."

'Foe concedes!'

Treble brightened up. "Always wanted to try that!"

"What did you do?!" Said Kaden.

"Personality bugs. I tried to make him less determined. I think I got lucky, though... I should have focused on bugging his other programs. If he'd had a stronger will, then I wouldn't have lasted long enough." Said Treble.

Kaden sighed. "You got us."

"You fought well. Hey, if you don't mind telling... what's UnifyCode?" Said Arthur.

"Oh, I forgot you don't have all our chips here. UnifyCode will cause the chips loaded before it to count as neutrally-coded. It's Mega class." Explained Kaden.

"Wow, that could be pretty useful. Where can we get one?"

"They're rare even back home. Mind you, they've got nothing on Excalibur."

* * *

A day passed, then another of fruitless searching.

"Where is this guy?!" Said Arthur in frustration.

"Beats me. Maybe I should go ask Bass." Said Treble.

"Not worth the risk. Even if you two are chill, somehow. Oh hey, an Email!"

'From: William

We've engaged Gregar! Everyone get to this server!'

"OH MAN, TIME TO MOVE!" Yelled Arthur. Treble was already running.

"Quiet up there!" Called Arthur's father from downstairs.

"Arthur, where are we going?" Said Treble.

"The area seems to be called BusinessArea. I think small companies trade there... Anyway, we have to hurry! Gah, we're so far away..." Said Arthur. "Can we possibly make it in time?!"

"MathMan's pretty close to them. Hopefully they can take him together... If they get deleted, I'm gonna destroy that Gregar." Said Treble.

A virus blocked the way. "Not now!" Said Arthur. "VariableSword, Up Right Down! Just cut through!"

"Hi-Yah!" Treble bisected the misfortunate Fishy. "We're coming, ArsenalMan! We're coming!"

Treble kept sprinting.

* * *

It was a solid ten minutes before they reached the area. Treble looked around. A lot of the floor was scorched, a few shop faces were damaged as if large heavy objects were thrown against them, and- _ArsenalMan!_

ArsenalMan was lying on the floor, almost unrecognisible. His left arm and back gun was missing, there were a few long and deep cuts across his torso, and there were many, many more small injuries all over him. Another Navi was kneeling by him, holding his head up. Treble ran over. "ArsenalMan! ARSENALMAN!"

ArsenalMan looked up. "I'm... not done for. This Navi... they gave me a MiniEnergy."

Treble took a look at the other Navi. Light red armor with some yellow highlights, a pair of wings at rest behind her back, and a sharp-looking yellow beak. They smelled kind of familiar.

"Bass? Is that you?" Said Treble.

The navi shook her head. "I'm called Flare. Do you know this Navi?" she said carefully.

"He's a close friend. Look, did you see who he was fighting?" Said Treble.

"I don't think you should go after them. Your friend is badly damaged and he can't seem to log out, he took a hit protecting an innocent bystander from... the flying debris." Said Flare.

"Debris... Yeah, what happened to all these shop fronts? It looks like they've been slammed with something really big."

"Well, there was another Navi fighting beside ArsenalMan. He summoned a lot of RockCubes, but... they got thrown around. He had to log out, he was too damaged." Said Flare.

"...Right. I'll take him back to his PET. Wow, I really owe you for this."

"It's... it's okay. It's half my fault, anyway. I should have tried to stop them fighting." Said Flare.

"Arthur, can we give them a chip? And... I'm pretty sure you couldn't have. He had orders."

Arthur nodded approvingly. "Sure. I think we should say thanks, too. Here, you can give her this one." He started entering some commands into the PET, and slotted in a chip.

"Here you go, Flare. We should keep in touch, can I have your P-code?" Treble handed over a chip.

Flare took the chip carefully. "Oh, BugBomb. Thank you, but I can't. Maybe we'll see each other again though?"

"Yeah, come to mine sometime! Here's the P-Code!" Treble passed Flare the code. "I better get ArsenalMan back now." He hoisted ArsenalMan over his shoulder. "Bye, Flare!" He started walking off.

Arthur smiled at the screen. "Was that flirting?"

Treble sounded confused. "What _is_ flirting?"

 **Author's notes: ColonelArmy is NOT ColonelForce, the difference being the ColonelForce is a Giga chip and summons as many soldiers as fit in the area, while ColonelArmy is a Mega chip that just summons two soldiers. Vanishing World appears in MMBN3 as one of BassGS' attacks. You can also get a chip for it from an event, that replaces your Bass chip.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: I'll discuss that one over PM, because I have been thinking about it in a manner of speaking.**

 **JaneValentine007: Hype! I. AM. HYPED! I can't wait to see what you're creating, I'm so excited.**

 **Guest: Darkness... Treble could technically be counted as already in the darkness partially, there's still a lot of code from when he was told to go and conquer the net by Sean. Balance is always a priority of mine. It makes all the fights much more enjoyable. He's maturing a little. Starting to gain a sense of right and wrong, rather than just doing whatever he feels like.**


	12. Chapter 12: Media

Arthur was deep in thought after seeing ArsenalMan safely returned. He'd sent an email asking for a report once either he or MathMan were restored, but knew that the damage would be an all-night fix. He wasn't particularly reckless ever since recieving Treble, but still this level of consideration was rare. "Treble... I think we should try and visit Eurasia."

"Huh? Why? And how?"

"I've been thinking: Tomorrow the media strike will hit, and the officials still haven't caught SheepMan. If they don't soon, things are going to totally fall apart. So, what if we just went over there and gave them a way to connect to his page? We can use our connection with SheepMan to get access to the institute. My father would love to visit Wirope."

Treble shrugged. "We need to deal with the Cybeasts, and there was Serenade's offer for extra power. And Bass, at the end of all that. Can't we just send in the officials and solve our problems?"

"I'm going to change your mind with one sentence." Said Arthur in his wisest tone. "You'll get to destroy like half a criminal organisation." He grinned.

"Count me in!"

"There's the Treble I know. So then, let's go ask SheepMan for a favor." Treble stretched, and started walking off into the net.

The PET beeped as an Email came through. 'From: Joe.

Whoever this Gregar is, real or imitation, they are extremely powerful, but that's not all. We thought we could beat him in a two versus one fight, but he has an allied Navi by the name of Alias. They're also a strong battler, it turns out. Anyway, Denny, when you read this we need you try and find out more about this 'Alias'. He might be a mercenary. I'll send you two a video of the fight in a minute, but for now MathMan took a very hard blow from a sword and I need to make sure everything is still working.'

"Treble, are you reading this?"

"Yeah... Gregar found an ally. I didn't expect that. But more fights don't sound too bad to me!" Said Treble. "Now I want to see that video!"

"Give them a minute, you saw the state ArsenalMan was in. MathMan might not have been as bad as that, but still he's got to be feeling beat up."

Treble walked on. The odd virus tried to bother him, but nothing too bad turned up. Before long, he came to the fake shop that had grown so familiar. He entered to see the usual clerk. "Hey there! Is everything secure?"

"One moment sir..." The doors closed. "All clear. How can we help you?"

"We'd like to speak to SheepMan."

"It's not urgent." Added Arthur.

"No worries, patching you through... I must say, you four have been a tremendous asset. We're all quite grateful for your help."

The panel on the floor lit up. SheepMan was away from his normal chair. "Oh, Darling! Something to report?"

Treble nodded. "A few things. First... remember those cybeasts you sent us to track down? MathMan and ArsenalMan found one, and fought them, but they had an ally. We think the officials are after them too..." _Well, we actually KNOW they are, but we can't say that._ "...and they're probably taking it seriously. Failing that, if they totally collapse tomorrow, then next time we'll go after Gregar as four."

"Logically sound, darling. Ensure they're dealt with, we're trying to improve society, not invite disaster. Anything else on your mind? I can see it in those glowing ruby irises of yours."

"We were wondering if we could come and visit you at Eurasia, after all this is done? Both of us would love to see around a place like that, and I bet your NetOp could pull some strings to get us a tour?" Said Treble.

SheepMan raised an eyebrow. "You know what, darling? Very well. Give us your address and we'll mail you some airplane tickets. Paying for someone to take a two-day vacation is well within my budget. And there are some things we've just been dying to show off. Tell me, which hotel would you two prefer? The Lotus or the Cloud? Are you going to bring one of your NetOp's parents or two? Any of your friends coming?"

"Woah woah, which hotel? What are they like?" Said Arthur.

"Oh, of course, silly me. You've never been to Wirope central! The Lotus has been a longstanding favorite hotel in the city, five stars for the last fourteen years. Famously good breakfast buffet, or so I'm told darlings! And it's own private mini-network for us Navis, with complimentary battlechips! The Cloud is a newer one, but it's very popular with visitors. Plus I went to stay the night there once, and they have the most divine viewing centre. You can look out over all the city with the ultra high definition camera at the top of the building, or one of the balconies. They have a private swimming pool on one of them, in fact! Plus they have a connection directly to the net, if you'd like to explore ours!"

"Treble, what do you think? The Wiropean net sounds great, but I'm tempted by that complimentary chip more than I probably should be."

"Cloud, no contest. Let's go see the world!"

"Haha, okay, Cloud it is. I'll just send an Email to the others. William probably won't come, the guy just never stops training, but Joe and Denny would probably like to. And... if it's okay, then I'd like to bring both my parents." Arthur mailed the others. Responses came quickly.

"Okay, Denny and PlugMan can't, and William and ArsenalMan are still tied up with training, but Joe and MathMan are available!"

"Can do, darling! We owe you all. So, would you like to stay and chat?"

"Sorry, but Gregar's still out there. We'd like to try and sort things out to be sure we're not leaving a threat back home." Said Treble.

"Understandable, darling. Happy hunting!"

* * *

"Everything went better than expected." Said Arthur "I wonder when those tickets will arrive?"

There was a whoop from downstairs. Mr. Penn could be heard shouting. "Jane! Jane, we've just been Emailed tickets to a luxury vacation!"

Arthur smiled. "Treble, back. Remember, we know nothing."

Treble logged out, and Arthur ran down the stairs to see his father run into the living room waving his PET about. "Look, everyone! 'As part of our efforts to spread our reputation as the world's most inventive technology group, we at the Eurasia institute are pleased to invite your family and a second family of your choosing to a guided tour of our institute in Wirope Central next weekend. We advise you choose a family with an interest in Netbattling. You will be staying at the Cloud hotel for two days, a five-star resort acclaimed for quality. More details can be found at our official website.' Isn't that wonderful?!"

"Can we take Joe's family?! He's the best Netbattler in school and an amazing friend!" Said Arthur.

Mrs Penn beamed. "You know, a vacation sounds just delightful right now. I'd had half a mind to book one. But to Wirope central, of all places... Oh, the theaters there! The shops! Micheal, we must be the luckiest family in electopia!"

Mr Penn smiled. "I think Joe's family would be a great choice. I've wanted to catch up to his parents anyway."

* * *

Arthur went to bed feeling nervous. He tried to lie down and sleep, but couldn't. He rolled over and opened the PET.

"Worried about tomorrow?" Said Treble.

"Terrified. We made it possible, after all. Chaud was kind of condescending, but he's a good guy."

"It'll be fine. They've had ages to prepare. Even if it'll tie the officials up for a few days... the main reason they're doing all this is to try and buy them time to do whatever they're doing with Trill." Said Treble.

"Trill. Yes... I hope that Navi's alright."

Arthur drifted to an uneasy sleep. It was all too soon that he woke up, the sun coming through the windows.

"Arthur, you left the PET on and open overnight! Plug in a charger, the battery's low!" Said Treble.

Arthur shook himself awake. "Oops." He plugged in a wire. "Shall we go and see the damage?" He asked.

"Yeah. It won't be that bad, I'm sure I can do worse." Said Treble. He logged in and ventured out into the net to find it oddly deserted. "Where is everyone?"

"..." Said Arthur. "Try the town square."

Treble went over to the square to find it absolutely packed with Navis. All in one giant angry mob. They were all shouting different things, but it was very obvious that they were all focusing their anger on a few Navis in the centre of the crowd. Treble pushed in, far stronger than many of them. He got a better look at the Navis in the centre. Officials.

"ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES!" Shouted about two dozen Navis simultaneously.

The officials just raised their hands. "We knew nothing about this!" They protested.

"Treble, back. If the whole net's empty right now we've got a golden opportunity." Said Arthur. Treble obliged. "Right, that Gregar Navi... he can't be in those crowds because the officials are after him. And with the net this empty, he should be easier to trace. We should get the others and go looking for him."

"Not now. You still have school, you know! ...And the tournament." Said Treble.

"We can't put the tournament before the net itself." The PET beeped. "Oh, an Email from school... It's cancelled, and the tournament's postponed. Well then. I'll get everyone together."

"Ok!"

* * *

In the completely wrecked Old Undernet server, everybody met up, NetOps included.

Treble looked around. "So... are you okay, ArsenalMan? I mean, I tried to disable my passive bugging, but it can still just slip through..."

"I'm fine. While I was closer to deletion than when I rode you, nothing got into my programs." ArsenalMan.

Treble brightened. "Great!"

"So... we doing anything?" Said PlugMan.

"Patience." Said MathMan. "First of all, do you know anything about a Navi called Alias?"

"No. But I can try to find out. Give me a description?"

"Black armor, light grey jumpsuit, three spikes on his helmet that point upwards" Said MathMan.

"I'll have a look. Any of you got other stuff to report?" Said PlugMan.

"This really nice navi called Flare saved ArsenalMan. I wanted to be friends with her, but she seemed... kind of distant." Said Treble.

ArsenalMan raised a hand. "Aside from that, the Navi Alias had a very interesting ability to recycle a program advance. It was either a custom-made chip or a well-programmed core, but either way whoever created him is extremely skilled."

"And not only that, he used an attack that seemed to be a much stronger version of a SoulSword. I didn't quite get the name, because it logged me out..." Continued MathMan.

"I did. SP Caliburn. Now for Gregar, since we should share everything we know. He wasn't bugged at all by your Zero Divider, so I suspect he's immune to bugging. Anything to add, MathMan?" Said ArsenalMan.

"Hmm. One thing. Gregar seemed to use a Navi chip halfway through the fight to counter ArsenalMan's ProtoMan chip. But the thing is... that was the only chip he used during that fight. So where did it come from?" Said MathMan.

"For now, time's wasting. This is a golden opportunity to get some info on Gregar." Said PlugMan.

"Agreed. Come on, allies." Said ArsenalMan.

They ran off together, ArsenalMan leading. Through the local area, onwards to a country-spanning server and from there towards the BusinessArea. They all went in together, and ran into a Mr. Prog.

"Hey there! This area is currently closed for repair." It said.

PlugMan glared. "No it's not. It's closed for an official investigation, so let us in."

"Okay!" 

They walked on past. PlugMan just smiled, and checked they were out of earshot. "So predictable. Okay, we might be able to find some hints as to where either Alias or Gregar went, but we mustn't disturb anything. Spread out and look for clues. Treble, use that nose of yours."

Treble sniffed around. "It smells like the real Gregar! At least, the one I smelled in MegaMan. I'm kind of excited to meet another Navi like me. MathMan, do you see anything that might have Alias' signature? Regular Navis don't spread bugs or anything, so we'll need something that actually got influenced by him."

ArsenalMan walked around. "The officials won't miss one chunk of this road, will they?"

"...Nah." Said PlugMan.

ArsenalMan picked up a small bit of the floor. "We both destroyed this section of flooring with a Program Advance. It might have my signature, but you should be able to get Alias' from this."

"Cool!" Treble grabbed the section of tile. "Mm. It smells kind of weird. I guess that's Alias. Anyone else get anything?"

"Yes, come and see this." Said MathMan. "It's a request BBS."

Everyone walked over to look at the board. Nothing seemed too special. "I don't get it?" Said Treble, now chewing on that bit of floor.

PlugMan laughed. "I do. Hey ArsenalMan, I'm about to break the law pretty badly, so you might want to shut your eyes." He reached behind it, and started fiddling. Another screen came up, prompting for a password. 'Password1' opened it. "Aaand we're into the records for the shops. Great little trick for getting info. So, let's see if Alias or Gregar bought anything..." He ran a search for Alias. "Bingo. Two PET Operating Systems. So, who here knows what that means?"

MathMan nodded. "Someone built two PETs. And since we dealt with two navis then..."

"Alias and Gregar are probably safe in them right now." Finished ArsenalMan. "They've outplayed us. We'll have to find them some other time. PlugMan, please close those records."

"One moment..." PlugMan hit a few extra buttons. "Alright. Anyone got any other plans? We're waiting on Gregar to make a move now."

"Let's go find Serenade!" Said Treble. "It'll be fun!"

PlugMan shrugged. "Sure, why not. I know where the entrance to her area is."

* * *

PlugMan brought the group before a warp panel. It was dull and inactive. "So, every rumor I know says she's on the other end of this, but you can't go in without meeting some kind of condition. You need 'true strength' or something."

MathMan looked to either side of the panel. Two torches were there. One burned with well-animated flames, the other was damaged. "This place... it feels kind of sad. A shadow of whatever it used to be. I mean, we just walked over, but that curtain we just passed... even if MegaMan and Bass destroyed it, it was still clearly meant to stop us doing that."

Treble went and stood on the pad, but nothing happened. "Aw, come on!" He jumped up and down. "Open!"

ArsenalMan looked at it. "True strength? Is that talking about strength of heart? Strength of mind? Synchro rate? Processing power?"

Treble stopped jumping, and walked off the pad. "Hey, I have an idea how to get in here!"

"How?" Said MathMan.

"Arthur, can you send me that cloak?" Said Treble.

Arthur looked through the PET's files, finding Bass' cloak. "I can... how is it going to help?"

The cloth appeared in Treble's hands. He put it on and walked up to the pad. "Maybe it'll think I'm Bass. He's pretty strong. Maybe if I tried talking like him too... ahem... _Open, feeble link!_ "

The link started glowing. MathMan stared. "I cannot believe that worked."

"All in!" Said Treble, stepping onto it. Everyone followed.

They appeared in the secret area one by one. PlugMan seemed tense. The area had pure white tiling, and a soothing blue background. But the white tiles were damaged in a few places, and most of all something about the air was outright... terrifying.

"This place..." Said Treble. "I feel this sense of Deja Vu again. Anyway, SERENAAADE? ARE YOU IN HERE?" He shouted.

"There's no need to shout." Said Serenade, behind the group. "Welcome."

PlugMan took a step back. "Oh no."

Treble just seemed excited, mouth hidden by Bass' cloak. "Hey there Serenade! We came to try and get that power you offered!"

Serenade smiled. "I may be able to offer you some hope..." She produced three chips. "These are the most powerful chips in the world. I will give them away... if you can make it to my throne. And you, darkloid- you need not worry. In fact... one of these chips could be for you." She turned over the three chips. "HolyDream. DarkAura. And GodBuster."

PlugMan seemed shaken. "How... I knew you could tell, from the moment I was here. How did you know?"

"That you were a darkloid?" Serenade smiled gently. "As much as you tried to divorce yourself from what you are... you couldn't quite become a full navi."

PlugMan sighed. "Well guys... Guess it's out in the open now. The one thing I've always tried to hide. I'm not a full Navi."

"What do you mean?" Said MathMan.

"I was created by Doctor Regal using DarkPower, almost immediately before Nebula's fall. I fled the organistion, and eventually joined up with Denny."

"So?!" Laughed Treble. "Look at me. I nearly went and destroyed the whole net, and everyone is pretty cool with that. You're a friend PlugMan."

"...Thanks. The leftover DarkPower in me stops me using holy chips, but I've got no bugs so I can't use Evil chips. Evil, ha. DarkPower was MUCH more evil than a few bugs." Said PlugMan.

Serenade held the DarkAura chip forwards. "But this is not your average evil chip. This chip was made with the prototype of DarkPower. While it lacks the corrupting properties of a DarkChip, it will still grow stronger for a darkloid. I dare say it's a perfect fit for you."

PlugMan looked at the chip carefully. "Very well. I'll brave your trials. But tell us... what do each of these chips do?"

"HolyDream consumes all nearby Holy panels and loads them as powerful ammo for your buster. DarkAura is like LifeAura, but capable of negating any damage under 300 points. GodBuster casts an extremely powerful blast of power from your palm, akin to the blast Treble produced yesterday actually- but without the energy drain to yourself." Explained Serenade. "But, I warn you all. My trials are designed to ensure that only TRULY worthy navis can obtain one of these chips."

"We accept. After yesterday... I know that I must grow even stronger. Next time I meet Gregar, things must be different." Said ArsenalMan.

"Then... good luck, navis." Said Serenade, fading away.

PlugMan looked around. "But what's the trial? Just to reach her?"

"That might not be so easy." Said MathMan. "Look over there, at that virus. It's extremely powerful."

They all looked over at the distance.

MathMan read the name tag. "Rare Mettaur3 EX Omega Plus"

"What." Said ArsenalMan.

"It has four titles?!" Said PlugMan.

"All hail the Mettaur king!" Said Treble jokingly. He looked more closely. "Oh wow, it's actually solid gold. And the cross is diamond. Where can we get some bling like that?"

"Should we try and attack it?" Said MathMan. "I've never been genuinely afraid of a Mettaur before..."

"We should name it something else first. All those titles are just weird." Said Treble. "Let's call it Steve."

"Maybe... oh, I know. Let's call it the MegaMettaur." Said MathMan.

"That works too. Can I fight it?!" Said Treble.

"...If you promise to run if you can't beat it." Said Arthur.

"Okay!"

Treble ran over towards the MegaMettaur, and got a look at its health. 600. "Why does a Mettaur have more health than me?!"

"Well, CrossBomb-" Arthur was interrupted by seeing the MegaMettaur swing its pickaxe, and generate a wave of force wide as a tsunami, leavind behind completely random panels, Grass, Lava, Ice, Water, Poison, Holy, Cracked and more... Treble got hit, and his health dropping from 560 to 60. "NOPE!"

"Bye!" Yelled Treble, running away as fast as he could. "What the... that Mettaur was insanely powerful!"

PlugMan looked at it. "Serenade's upgraded it, I'm sure of it. It's probably the literal pinnacle of Mettaurs. Hold on, I'll try hitting it with BassAnomaly."

He went over, and everyone watched as he summoned a ghostly copy of Bass to throw Hell's Rollings at the virus. The first wheel hit, but then the virus instantly ducked under it's helmet, negating the other 480 points of damage. PlugMan tried to throw some elec attacks at it, and eventually brought the virus down to 300 health, but then took a hit and had to back off.

"Denny, jack me out. My health's low." He said. "What? Why can't you? The area stops you?" PlugMan looked to the others. "This is bad news. We can't log out here, we have to return to the Old Undernet first."

"Oh... so even working together... getting through this place is going to be incredibly dangerous. Well, I'll finish off that Mettaur." MathMan went up to fight the MegaMettaur. With careful timing, he brought his sword across it's face, using a PanelReturn to reset the crazy mix of panels it had created around him. Eventually, a deleting blow was struck, and the MegaMettaur dissolved.

It did not disappear quickly like most viruses, instead fading out over two seconds. When it was gone, two things were left: A battlechip and a golden BugFrag.

Treble walked over. "What's in the chip? And can I have that?" He looked at the gold BugFrag.

MathMan picked it up. "Reflector3 *. Useful. And sure, none of the rest of us can use it."

Treble grabbed the golden item, and started eating it. "W-Wow!" He said. "It's incredible... I can feel myself getting stronger."

Arthur looked at the screen "Your health just increased by fifty points! Whatever that BugFrag was, we should try and get another one some time."

"You bet! Whoo, that was delicious alright!" Said Treble.

"We ought to retreat for now. If all four of us at full health can barely handle a Mettaur in this place, then we'll have to be fully healed before trying to go further." Said ArsenalMan.

"Yes, that would be wise. For now, let's go and see if the net's calming down from earlier." Said MathMan.

The four exited the secret area.

* * *

The regular net was just a little calmer, the angry mob having dispersed a little. Wherever the officials were, it wasn't here. But all the BBS boards were still swamped with Navis.

"Aren't you kind of sore right now? You're at less than 20% of your max health and that virus left some nasty marks on your front." Said MathMan to Treble.

Treble shrugged. "Nah. So, what else can we do while PlugMan investigates Alias?"

"We could see if Chaud needs any favours." Said Arthur. "There must be a lot of crime happening while the officials aren't able to stop it. I'll mail him."

He sent the mail, and waited for a response.

'Just try and protect the innocent.' Was the reply.

"Well, I'm not going to say no to that!" Said Arthur. "Poor guy, you can tell he's dealing with a lot of people right now."

"But it's all pretty clear around here." Said Treble. "Maybe we should go check out some of the online shops. Theives might go for them."

"You're right. First, log out and I'll heal you. Then we can go and check out the local shops. ArsenalMan, ask William if he wants to join in."

"Yes, ally."

The two Navis patrolled the area, but it was mercifully quiet. "You know... I was kind of hoping someone would get robbed." Said Treble. "I'm itching for a good fight."

"Don't be that way. You can fight someone normally if you want to.

The PET beeped. "Hey, an Email!" Said Arthur. "It's from... SheepMan?!"

'Our shop front is being robbed! Get over there quickly!'

"It seems you got your wish." Commented ArsenalMan. "Let's go- hey, wait for me!"

Treble was moving at full speed, and that was FAST.

* * *

The fake chip shop had a generic bruiser Navi at the counter, equipped with a sword. "C'mon, I heard you got some rare chips here!" He said, holding the sword further forwards.

Treble ran into the shop, and shouted "Chip!"

"Thunder, in!" Said Arthur.

Treble leapt forwards, and slam-dunked the ball of Thunder onto the bruiser's head. He followed through on the paralysed Navi with his claws, cutting through the armor like warm butter.

"...is that it?" Said Treble. "How disappointing..."

The bruiser looked up. "Chill... ChillMan's coming for you, snitch."

ArsenalMan burst in. "Treble... oh, you already beat him. Listen, there's been a report of Denny's cousin's Navi breaking out and we think they're going to try and free their NetOp. Come on, we have to go and intercept."

"On it!" Said Treble. "Guide me."

ArsenalMan ran out of the shop, Treble following.

"Okay, so they should pass through this area soon." Said ArsenalMan. "We'll have to get the drop on them. Load up a few elec chips."

"They can't be that tough can they? PlugMan just walked all over the guy." Said Treble.

"...PlugMan used his full power to do that. And he hides a LOT of it." Said ArsenalMan.

"Ooh, I'm excited!" Said Treble. "Where is the sucker?"

"Here we go, ZapRing1 and your neutral guard." Said Arthur. "Do you want to just try and use BugCharge to blow him up immediately?"

"I think it would be fun to try and get quadruple damage on him. Have we found any IceSeed chips around the net?" Said Treble.

"...Yes! You know, I always wrote this thing off as being useless, but we could create the patch of ice now..." Said Arthur "One IceSeed, coming up."

The light-blue capsule appeared in Treble's hand. He threw it into the middle of the pathway, and a large patch of ice blossomed. Not two seconds later, a Navi made of ice walked in.

ArsenalMan looked to Treble. "That's him. Do you actually want me to back you up? I'm still feeling a bit tired from the last fight with Gregar."

"Nah, I got this." Treble walked over. "Hey ChillMan!"

"... _you."_ Breathed the icy Navi. He was composed of four chunks of ice. One large one that made up his body, two pillars for his arms and one small one that helmeted his head. " _My NetOp's in jail because of you!"_

Treble noted he wasn't quite on the ice yet. "Well then, want to skip the monologue and- whoa!"

He ducked under one of the arms as it went flying past him. ChillMan started to spin them around, whirling the two pillars faster and faster until he started to move forwards. Treble pulled out the ZapRing and shot it. 80 damage, impressive for an attack meant to set up other attacks.

"ElementBreath in!" Said Arthur.

" _Chill out._ " Said ChillMan, breaking free of the paralysis. He started emitting freezing gas from his body, making Treble feel sluggish.

"Agh, that's cold!" He danced back, but then was slammed to the floor by a whirling arm. He tried to get up, but was slammed again. "N-No fair!"

 _"There is no fair in battle."_ Said ChillMan.

"...Yeah." Said Treble. The next swing of ChillMan's arm came down, and hit nothing. Treble jumped onto it, and slashed.

Once. _Say goodbye to your freezing gas._

Twice. _No more easy movement.  
_

Thrice. _...Did I maybe lower his buster power? He doesn't have one..._

Treble jumped off before his legs froze, and slipped on the ice. Steadying himself, he stared at ChillMan and taunted. "Come at me, you overgrown popsicle."

ChillMan tried to slam Treble with his arms, but Treble ducked, popped up and blew elec-element flames over him. ChillMan suddenly went from having lots of health to very little.

"Hey, let's end this!" Said Treble.

"Right on. Three Vulcan1's, in! Program Advance: InfiniteVulcan!"

Treble lifted the hefty gun, and fired. "Take this!"

ChillMan didn't flinch, powering forwards as the gun tore his weakened armor apart. By the time he reached Treble, he had no momentum, and collapsed to the floor. _"Nooo."_

Treble looked back to ArsenalMan. "Can we delete him?"

"No. We'll just keep him here until PlugMan turns up."

"Ok!" Treble stared PlugMan in the face with his currently pure red eyes, daring him to move.

 **Author's notes: This story is being run in tandem with 'Return of the Cybeasts' By RushAlias, but I will strive to make sure that you can always understand everything that happens even if you never read it. Still, I recommend giving the guy some reviews, they'll help him get better as a writer!**

 **...Mostly filler this chapter.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: Good, good. And my characters can grow, so so do I.**

 **Guest: Treble has no idea how to flirt, but if he did he would probably be pretty good at it. Serenade is one of those Navis with such an ascended level of power that she probably wouldn't be too worried if a Navi came for her with an 1000 damage attack.**


	13. Chapter 13: Tournament

About ten minutes later, PlugMan turned up. "Ah. How did I know it would be him?" He knelt and stared ChillMan in the face. "So, give me one reason I shouldn't delete you?"

ChillMan stared back. "... _Mercy."_

"Can I do it?" Said Treble.

PlugMan stared. "No." He placed a hand on ChillMan's chest, and discharged a blast of electricity.

'ChillMan deleted'

"Right, that's that. You two, the officials are just about getting things under control. You might as well just go and bust a few viruses." Said PlugMan.

"Ok!" Said Treble.

"...You could have just told us to delete him. We all know he's a criminal." Said ArsenalMan.

"That one was personal." Said PlugMan. "You got the Navi chip, right?"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Very little happened over the weekend, amazingly. For the most part, the officials were able to get a handle on the situation, and start countering all the cries for so-and-so to step down, and such-and-such to answer for something. But it was obviously they were stretched to the max, completely halting their ability to go after SheepMan, and a lot of common criminals.

Arthr and Treble spent the majority of the time training for the tournament. Bust viruses until even Treble's thirst for battle was quenched, take a twenty minute break for Arthur to get some water and lament the rarity of BugFrags, and then Treble would be ready to fight again and they'd both be back to it.

Eventually, on Sunday afternoon, Arthur went for a walk around the town. He slipped on a pair of sunglasses and looked at the sky. "You know... I've been considering some other stuff."

"Like what?" Said Treble.

"...You know how if you spent too long fighting in your original form, it would knock you out?"

"Ahah..." Said Treble nervously. "Yyyes."

"Well, I was thinking we should try and have that countermeasure removed. Battles are going to get a lot more difficult from here on out, but that's not all. Consider our team, Treble. What would you say is the role of each Navi?" Said Arthur.

"Umm... I'm not really sure."

"MathMan is a short-range duelist. ArsenalMan is a ranged destroyer. PlugMan is great at disrupting. And currently, you're a mobile attacker. We don't cover two important roles there." Arthur continued. "We need a healer, and we need a guardian. Someone to repair the wounds of our team, and someone to protect them from harm."

"Oh, I get it! You want me to use my original form to protect everyone!" Said Treble. "Yeah, I can do that. I'm pretty resistant to damage like that."

"Yes. Although finding a source of healing outside Recover chips is still a problem... letting ArsenalMan and PlugMan stay safely behind your bulk in a fight would make it much easier for them to battle effectively. So, how should we go about removing that knockout program?"

"Well, about that... I kind of bugged it myself." Said Treble awkwardly.

"Oh. Why do you sound so worried? It was just there in case you went all evil and crazy. You make a pretty cool friend. Definitely not evil." Said Arthur.

"Oh. Well then. Does this mean I can spend more time in my original form? I kind of like being twice as tall as everyone."

"Not all the time. It's harder for your original form to hit small enemies, and you might cause a panic if you went into a crowded server like that. We'll use your Navi form to deal with fast foes and defensive foes, and your original form to block off aggressive targets and long-range targets." Arthur was quiet for a moment. "...Want to go to the Chip shop? It's the second-last round of the tournament tomorrow, yes, but the finals of the local segment are held in an online arena. Actually, that reminds me. It'll be a double battle. Who's our ally, who's our enemy? I bet MathMan is still in the runnings. We beat ArsenalMan, and Denny probably had PlugMan lose on purpose."

"We're going to fight _against_ MathMan and another Navi called ElastoWoman. And our ally is ChanceMan. Aw, no. Not him."

"Huh? What's wrong with the guy?" Said Arthur.

"He's really luck-based in his fighting style. Literally a walking slot machine. I think he got this far with some ridiculously lucky triple-seven rolls, but if he rolls badly... then I'm fighting one versus two."

Arthur frowned. "No you're not. One second, I'm mailing William." He started furiously typing into the PET.

'William, I need a favour. I want to try a new strategy for the tournament, but I'll need to borrow BugStop Plus.'

"Are you going to give it to ChanceMan?" Said Treble.

"Yes. I've realised something. If a navi could stand on you without getting bugged, then your centre frill that sticks up could basically work as a shield for them. If ChanceMan rides you, then he'll be almost impossible to hit without using a chip."

"Clever!"

The PET beeped. 'Okay, it's attached. Please don't lose it, the file took ages to repair after you bugged it with Treble. And warning: It's a 9-block program. Your NaviCust may suffer.'

Arthur opened the file. BugStop Plus was a very awkward U, four bocks long. "Wow, that thing's shaped annoyingly. Glad we're not using it. I guess I should mail it to ChanceMan's NetOp. Who are they?"

"Gallo Robertson. I've got the address."

"Hmm... should we go and visit him online, or go to the chipshop?"

"Aren't we low on money?"

"...oh yeah."

* * *

Treble wandered over to ChanceMan's security cube. "ChanceMan! Are you in there?" He called.

There was a whirr as the cube unlocked. A navi with a gambling design walked out. A watermelon patterned suit, small gold bells on his gloves and boots, and a little plaque on his waist that said BAR. Most strikingly, his entire upper body was basically a fruit machine, with the dispenser at the bottom facing outwards.

"Cha-ching. It's my tournament ally. Feeling lucky?" Said ChanceMan. "'Cause you can bet on me."

"We have a plan for getting through the tournament tomorrow." Said Treble. "But we'll need you to maybe prepare some different chips to what you have right now, and run a special NaviCust program."

"I'll see what the boss has to say about it." ChanceMan had a short conversation with his NetOp. "He wants to know: What's the big strat you've got? Is it a safe wager?"

"...How empty is your homepage? We could just show you." Said Treble.

"We got plenty of room. Just don't go damaging my arcade programs, you hear? Come on in." ChanceMan walked into his page, and Treble followed. Inside was a large room, with one side lined with many different casino programs. The other was clear.

"Arthur, send me the advance! And send BugStop Plus to Gallo!" Said Treble.

"On it." Arthur quickly wrote out a short message explaining what BugStop Plus could do, and hit send. "Here's the chips. Don't forget to tell ChanceMan to stand back."

"Okay, install that program in your NaviCust! And then stand back!" Said Treble.

"BugStop Plus? Huh. One second..." ChanceMan sat down, and closed his eyes. A minute passed as Gallo reworked the NaviCust to use BugStop Plus. ChanceMan woke up again. "Huh, weird program. I feel good."

"Stand back!" Treble transformed without actually giving ChanceMan any time to step away, knocking him over. "OK!"

"Well, what do you know." Said ChanceMan. "Looks like I got lucky with my ally. But where does that NaviCust program come into play?"

"IF YOU TRIED TO TOUCH ME WITHOUT IT, YOU WOULD GET BUGGED! BUT NOW YOU CAN USE ME AS A SHIELD! CLIMB ONTO MY BACK." Treble moved his tail around to the side, as a kind of rail to climb on.

ChanceMan carefully climbed onto Treble's back. "Never seen any trick like this... Where's safe?"

"COME TO THE FRONT! AND YOU CAN STAND BEHIND THE FRILL!"

ChanceMan carefully walked along Treble's back until reaching the shoulders, where it was easier to stand. "So... You're betting on me doing the attacking while you take the hits? Pretty sweet deal for me."

"GOOD! BUT I CAN ATTACK TOO. JUST, MY ATTACKS LIKE THIS ARE EASIER TO AVOID THAN OTHER STUFF. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STAY BALANCED IF I SWIPE OR BITE?"

"I wouldn't bet on it. Can you use any attacks that won't throw me off my game?"

"I CAN BREATHE THE ELEMENTS."

"That's a good hand, there. We'll put together a ranged folder for tomorrow."

* * *

Arthur woke up monday, and went downstairs to see his Mr. Penn waiting. "Oh? Don't you have work, father?"

"Not today, son. The bar's owner actually gave me an extra day off in total, aside from the weekend. One morning to watch my son's tournament match, and friday night to pack for my holiday. Great guy."

"Well- I won't let you down. I'll win, and I'll do it fair and square." Said Arthur determinedly.

"Good lad. Don't be late now, off you go."

Arthur walked off. A dozen steps out of the house, he sighed. "Suddenly, I feel like I'm under ten times as much pressure."

"It'll be fine! I can probably beat them alone if we can knock out MathMan quickly." Said Treble.

"Yeah, MathMan. We beat him before, but don't get cocky. That sword of his hurts."

"Hey, I know that better than most! But still, the guy doesn't have a buster. I don't see any way he's going to get close to ChanceMan without AreaSteal."

"Hmm. Yeah. Just be careful, okay."

Arthur walked into school. He looked around for any of his friends by the gates, but couldn't see them. He continued in, and went to Denny's section of the lockers, and then William's. Finally, he went to Joe's, and saw all three standing around the locker, along with an unfamiliar girl.

"Hey guys!"

"Arthur." Said Joe with a smile. "You ready for the match?"

"As I can be. Who are you?" He said to the girl.

"I'm Lyn. ElastoWoman's operator." She had frizzy hair dyed a light pink, dark skin and a pack of strawberry bubblegum poking out of her shirt pocket. Her PET was hung arond her neck on a cord. "See you in an hour, I guess." She turned and walked off.

"...You guys were planning something there." Said Arthur.

Joe shrugged. "Guilty as charged. Don't tell me you left your ally up to... chance. You don't seem to check until the minute before you go in."

"I know it's ChanceMan and Gallo, Joe." Said Arthur. "So... Something tells me you guys aer on Joe's side for this one."

"Well, not maliciously. We just wanted it to be an even match." Said William.

"They nearly hired me to find out Treble's weaknesses." Said Denny. "You've got the edge for sure, but they're not going out without a fight."

"Arthur... you and Treble have grown in power fast. We all know you can beat ChanceMan easily once it gets down to the finals. So for all intents and purposes... This is the tournament finale. I'm pulling out ALL the stops. Everything at my disposal." Said Joe. "And that's all the warning you're getting."

"I won't disappoint." Said Arthur. He hoped it didn't show, but Joe's big talk had him worried. He wasn't the type to brag without the means to back it up.

"Good. Best of luck."

"You too."

* * *

It was time. Perhaps not officially the last battle of the tournament, but in Arthur's heart he knew this was the biggest part of the locals for him. Maybe even the whole thing, if he won. He shuffled a hand to his heart. Beating like crazy. "Treble?"

"Yeah."

"I'm... actually nervous."

"Just... take a lesson from me. Get excited."

"Huh?"

"Get excited for the battle ahead. Sure, it's not the best thing for focus, but it HAS to beat being nervous." Said Treble.

Arthur took a deep breath. This was it. The big fight. The fight... where he WOULD win. "You're right. Let's do this." He said with a solid voice.

Gallo sauntered over. He was tanned, with a pair of stylish sunglasses clipped around his shirt's collar. "Yo dude. We're loaded up on MarkCannons, HiCannons, Boomers, Bubblers-you name it. And the program's loaded into the NaviCust. We're good to go."

"Thanks for putting your faith in me." Said Arthur.

"Eh, no biggy. We didn't have any grand designs." Said Gallo.

"Would the NetOps please jack into the netbattle machine?" Called the shop's owner.

Arthur gave Treble a quick glance before pointing the PET at the machine. "Treble, hunt!"

"ChanceMan, deal in."

"MathMan, Jack in."

"ElastoWoman, stretch your legs!"

Four columns of light appeared. Purple, Light Green, Yellow, and Pink. The four Navis were each in one corner. Treble took a quick look at his enemies. ElastoWoman seemed to have a bubblegum theme, a light pink suit and her armour like the silver foil seen on the inside of a packet.

 _Wait a second!_

MathMan had something in his left hand... it looked like a simple black orb. But that wasn't his sword hand... Was it a new trick?

'On the right side of the arena, we have MathMan, the intelligent and calm swordsman, alongside ElastoWoman, the cutest bundle of pain in town! And in the left side, we have Treble, the bug user, fighting alongside ChanceMan, master gambler! On my mark... Three! Two! ONEEE!'

"Here we go! No time to waste!" Said Arthur, quickly slotting in the three chips. "ElementBreath! BugCharge! VariableSword-Conami! Program Advance, Origin!"

Treble ran for the area between himself and ChanceMan, trying to make it easier for ChanceMan to reach him, and transformed. Almost immediately, he felt something bounce harmlessly off his side, and glanced to one side to see ElastoWoman holding a Cannon.

ChanceMan sprinted over, and swung himself onto Treble's top, while Treble turned to face the enemy. ChanceMan ran along his back to the safer point at Treble's neck.

Gallo whipped out a few chips. "MarkCannon2, Bubbler, slot-in!"

ChanceMan carefully took aim and fired at ElastoWoman, but the MarkCannon alone wasn't a deleter, while MathMan got to a centralised position.

"I'll pin them down. You move in." Said Joe, as he narrowed his eyes. "Personal chip, Pi gun!"

 _But Joe doesn't have a personal chip!_

MathMan ducked under the Bubbler, and held the hand with the orb out. The orb floated away from his palm, and a black '3' appeared between his palm and the orb. Arthur realised what the attack did in one horrifying moment. Suddenly, from the other side of the orb, a stream of numbers flew out continuously, '14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582...' and Arthur knew that it was Pi. The huge column of numbers crashed against Treble's head, and while they didn't get through his armor, there were enough that ChanceMan couldn't move from behind Treble's frill. All the while, ElastoWoman was running in, a WideSword appearing on her hand.

But it wasn't a WideSword, and Arthur had been listening enough to know that. "Treble, it's a StepSword! They're going for ChanceMan!"

Treble heard Arthur in the nick of time, and did the only thing he could think of. He reared up, and as ElastoWoman 'stepped' forwards, the blade simply sparked against his belly. He slammed his weight down, catching her arm beneath a claw, but to his surprise, it didn't pull her down with it. The arm simply stretched out, not restricting ElastoWoman at all.

"ElastoWoman, Sending chips! ArsenalMan, attack+30!"

A ghostly copy of ArsenalMan appeared, and raised its guns. Treble was caught off-guard, and took the hits to his vulnerable mouth. The fact ArsenalMan was using rapid-fire gatling guns made the Attack+30 pay dividends. Treble growled and released ElastoWoman's arm, his previously high health having plummeted down to around 700.

Lyn grinned. "Now, NaviRecycle!"

As the copy was fading away, another appeared. Treble closed his mouth to try and reduce the damage, but those shots stung when they hit him right in the face and there were so many of them. 600 health.

Gallo glared. "Not bust yet. Astroid3, slot-in!"

ChanceMan revealed he'd just managed to hang on through Treble rearing, and held out a hand to call down a few meteors. Most missed completely, but one went for each enemy. ElastoWoman took a direct hit and stumbled back, but MathMan waited patiently until the rock was almost upon him, and _cut it out of the air._ He started calmly walking forwards.

Joe took his turn to send some chips. "Fanfare, Discord, Timpani, and Silence!"

MathMan raised his hands to either side, as four different colour 'Trumpy' viruses appeared, and began to play different sounds in harmony. While the music sounded fine, suitable even, each instument tipped the battle in MathMan's favor. He was invincible, and Treble was suddenly finding it hard to think, move and see.

"We need to deal with those!" Said Gallo.

"Poltergeist." Finished Joe. As the four instruments finished playing, an invisible force picked each one up and tossed it with great force. Treble had no choice but to get hit, moving would have exposed ChanceMan. They would have been 200 damage each, but against Treble's head with his guard up, it was only 40 apeice. 520 health left. MathMan was close now.

 _I need to catch him off guard. But Treble can't make himself vulnerable right now..._

Arthur looked into his pack quickly. He had to do something to give ChanceMan an opening... ElastoWoman started running from the side, and Arthur had an idea. "ChillMan, Navi chip in! ...and CrossBomb."

To his surprise, instead of summoning a ghost, Treble's head actually turned into a grey copy of ChillMan. It swung an arm in a wide arc, missing MathMan, but damaging ElastoWoman further. But in those few seconds, ChanceMan was exposed. MathMan ran forwards carefully, weaving under the coins ChanceMan fired at him, and leapt into the air.

"Bubbler! Cannon! Slot-in!" Said Gallo.

ChanceMan raised the bubbler, and blasted MathMan at point-blank range. MathMan didn't even flinch, bringing the Zero Divider down across ChanceMan, leaving a deep wound.

"G-gyah!" Said ChanceMan, stumbling to one side and falling off Treble. "I... I feel sluggish."

"Change of plan, ChanceMan's out of action. Treble, get aggressive!" Said Arthur.

Treble roared, the Crossbomb converting into a row of explosions. MathMan had no choice but to land in an exploding tile, and Treble didn't waste a second in simply lunging for him, trying to both cut and crush him with one swing of his paw. MathMan raised his sword to defend himself, and was instantly and heavily forced to one knee, but he resisted as hard as he could until GS-Treble put his weight behind the crush. Then his sword started to bug out, the data falling apart.

MathMan slipped free as the sword was smashed into bits on the floor. MathMan barely seemed concerned with his loss of a hand.

Meanwhile, ElastoWoman and ChanceMan were locked in battle. Each was heavily damaged, and faced each other in a lopsided battle. ElastoWoman held a clear advantage for a long time until she quickly skirted behind ChanceMan.

"MoonBlade!" She yelled, spinning two small daggers around herself.

'ChanceMan, logged out!'

MathMan backed off, towards ElastoWoman.

Joe glanced to Lyn. "We need a plan!"

"I got this! Sending chips, GutPunch, DoublePoint!" Said Lyn.

A heavy yellow fist appeared on ElastoWoman's right hand, as her feet became heavier from the DoublePoint. "Yah!" Shouted ElastoWoman, punching, and stretching her arm doing so, sending the punch a long distance towards Treble.

"Battlechips in. ElecPulse, 1, 2 and 3. Program advance, DestroyPulse! I'm counting on you, MathMan!" Said Joe.

Treble watched the powerful punch coming in, and hoped Arthur had some ideas. He could keep his defenses up for a long time, but his enemy could break through.

Arthur had one idea. "AreaSteal, in!" He hoped it wouldn't convert.

The hopes of both were answered. Treble, without breaking form, disappeared and reappeared directly in front of his two targets. One good sideways swipe hit both.

'ElastoWoman, logged out!'

"Destroy... Pulse!" Shouted MathMan. He was horribly bugged, struggling to stand upright, armor shifted away from where it was needed, voice off-key, and sword arm unresponsive. But he still managed to form a small satellite dish on his left arm, and quickly fired into Treble's exposed mouth.

Treble stumbled back, health dangerously low, and MathMan's arm dropped from exhaustion, the dish disappearing. He took a shaky step backwards.

"Look... do you want to concede? Treble might not mind logging him out, but at this point-" Arthur was cut off.

"No." Said Joe firmly. "We promised each other..."

MathMan stared Treble down, perhaps not relaxed but stilll focused and calm. "...to push for our very limit."

Joe took out another battlechip. "Plot an arc, and throw this! Then charge and bisect in target area!" He put in two chips.

A MiniBomb of all things appeared in MathMan's hand. He stared hard with his visor, and pitched it into the air, starting to run forwards. Treble tried to follow it, but MathMan formed a LongSword, and with more certainty than Treble had ever seen from the Navi before, slashed him in the face with the blade, the force actually pushing the guarded damage to a noticeable level. Treble went to attack, and the MiniBomb hit, rattling him. 46 Health.

Arthur, in one split second realised this was his only chance. "Thunder, in!" He said desperately.

Treble took a deep breath, pulling MathMan in despite firm resistance, and exhaled with everything he had left. A direct hit.

'MathMan, For- Del- for- Error.' Said the machine.

MathMan was still standing. His health was at zero. A small smile crested his face, or what was left of it.

"Joe, pull him out. We've won, barely." Said Arthur.

"I think that's... the only wise thing to do. I'll recall him manually." Said Joe. He entered a few commands. MathMan disappeared into the PET. Joe sighed. "So close. Looks like you've outgrown my power."

'MathMan, logged out.'

"Don't say that!" Said Arthur. "46 HP. That's basically one hit's difference. Maybe we beat you, but we sure haven't outgrown your power. Treble, how are you doing?"

"WE DID IT... JUST ABOUT. THAT WAS... THE BEST FIGHT. I COULD LIVE IN THIS MOMENT FOREVER." GS-Treble panted. "BUT..." He reverted to his normal form, data leaking from his mouth in a cascade. "I... need some recovery." He collapsed.

"Oh, Treble! I'll get you out." Said Arthur, recalling his Navi.

There was a beep. Arthur instinctively opened his mail, but nothing was new. He looked to Joe. "Was that yours?"

"Yeah... It's an automatic message from the system. Apparently, at the end of that battle, I entered something called 'Full Synchro'... It says it takes a deep understanding and connection to achieve, but can massively boost a Navi's power, to almost double." Said Joe.

Gallo whooped. "Ya did it, boy! I'll see you in the finals!"

Arthur looked to Joe with a small, knowing smile. Joe nodded with his own. _This was the final. The 'Finals' are basically a formality at this point._

"I'll see you there too, Gallo. OH! But, I'll need that NaviCust program back. I borrowed it. I can introduce you to the guy if you want to get it again."

"Yeah, alright."

* * *

"So, is MathMan okay? That final blow sort of left him... in ruins." Said Arthur.

Joe nodded. "It's bad damage, but all straightforwards. I think the automatic repair can handle it. How's Treble?"

"Treble? You feel any different to a minute ago?" Said Arthur.

"I feel like I'm flying!" Said Treble.

"I think he's on a bit of a rush." Said Arthur. "I... can still hardly believe I beat you."

"Believe it. Don't forget, we're going to Eurasia this weekend. I don't doubt that there are Navis there stronger than me." Said Joe. "Plus Gregar."

"About him." Said Denny. "Come with me, we need to talk."

Arthur and Joe turned to see Denny. He looked his usual lazy persona, but both knew that meant nothing. The three went off to behind the shop.

"I've been doing some research. First things first... you both know all the main points of the cybeasts, yes?" Said Denny. "Gregar appeared, went on a rampage, and we made Falzar to counter him but then Falzar also went on a rampage because the targeting overruled her personality."

"Yes."

"And that Gregar was thought to be sealed within MegaMan, and Falzar within Bass?"

"...Yes."

"We were wrong. I took some risks, but I've completely compromised the official's database. MegaMan and Bass each control roughly 40% of a cybeast. Maybe a little more or less. But the remaining 60% _is not deleted._ You fought Gregar then, and after we went through your data logs... we found that it was almost certainly the original."

Joe frowned. "I never gave you my data logs."

"Doesn't matter to me. Anyway, you DID give me your footage of the fight. And that was enough to confirm it. But more importantly... I found this file in the official database. Have a look." Denny started playing a video on his PET.

Arthur recognised the navis, to his surprise. One was Bass, the other was apparently Gregar? But something seemed off about him... They were fighting, and Bass was winning with relative ease, forming a cannon in the shape of Falzar's head and scouring the field with a gust of wind. Gregar tried to use his aura/soul to deflect it, but it was clearly too much, the armor on Gregar starting to crack. He was sure that Gregar was about to be deleted, when for one split second, he saw a warm red aura dash into Gregar from behind. There was a pixelation in the video at a few sections, but Arthur watched Gregar's armor turn white, and grow wings and gain talons on the forearms. A blood-red aura sprang to life, seething with power. There was suddenly a blinding flash, and the video cut out.

"Did they just take on Bass? What was that transformation?" Said Arthur.

"They didn't. Whatever that form was, it still couldn't beat Bass- but it didn't need to. It discharged an attack that destroyed the server, forcing both to retreat before they could fight. But even so, Bass was holding back, testing the water. The reason that I'm showing you this is because we're going to fight them at some point. If they create that form, we need to back off, or at least have an exit route." Said Denny.

"If it's actually Gregar, I want to fight him in single combat!" Said Treble.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? He could just call that Alias guy and then you'll be in two-on-one combat."

"PlugMan could come with us. If Alias tries to come in then PlugMan can just zap him."

"Hmm... okay. If we find him and we've got PlugMan or MathMan, I'll give you your duel." Said Arthur.

"One more thing." Said Denny. "I was looking into Alias as best I could... and I found some old SciLab records. They list a navi called Alias, made by a new employee at the time called Ciel. But the problem is, that the records were very light on info. It's a list of Navis the place has made and who made them. Not where they went, what the powers they have are, and most annoyingly what they look like."

"Well, I know what to do next then!" Said Arthur. "I'll ring Lan, and ask him to find out who Ciel is."

"...How are you going to explain that?"

"I'll just say I'm trying to find out who made a navi." Said Arthur.

* * *

Arthur walked into the house and saw his father waiting. "Son! You did it!"

"I did! I managed to get to the finals." Said Arthur.

"You've done a great job, son. I promised the boss I'd work tonight, but I'm not needed until six, so do you want to order a takeout? Anything you want."

"Well, it's been a while since we had pizza!" Said Arthur.

"Then we'll have that when your mother gets home. Come on, get your shoes off. We can watch the replay, I saved it. And where's your Navi, I need to congratulate him too!"

Arthur pulled the PET out of his pocket. Treble waved.

"You did a fine job there. I heard you can't take HP memories, but BugFrags instead, so I'll give you some of mine. And I have a present for both of you." Mr. Penn reached into his pocket and pulled out a chip, still in the little plastic jacket new ones came in. "I understand it's quite popular with your generation."

Arthur took the chip. "GunDelSol2 S. Hey, these are always sold out everywhere! How did you manage to find one?"

His father laughed. "With age comes wisdom, like going to shops early in the morning." He sat down on the sofa, and started flipping through the channels until he hit the local news.

'In other reports, today a mall robbery was foiled by the heroic efforts of two mysterious navis. The two can be seen on security footage barring the robber's escape and engaging him in combat, defeating him before fleeing the scene themselves. Next, the tournament matches!'

The news program ended, cutting to a program that covered the tournament. A sporty announcer started talking about all the victors of the battles, and Arthur watched until about halfway through, Treble and himself were mentioned. It was almost surreal. Next a highlight reel started playing, and to his surprise the very first thing he saw was MathMan's jump through the air. A few seconds later, he got to see Treble areastealing.

"Wow, just one more fight to go..." Said Arthur. "And we'll be the best in town."

"Don't get cocky. It would be terrible to lose after coming this far." Said Mr. Penn.

* * *

Later, on the net, the Navis were meeting up. ArsenalMan had called for everyone to come to an area.

Treble was second to arrive to where ArsenalMan had been waiting, and was followed by PlugMan.

"What have you found? Is it exciting?" Asked Treble.

ArsenalMan gestured carefully to a virus, off in the distance. "MathMan, analyse that virus."

"Hmm. It's quite powerful, unusually so for this area. It seems to be one of the 'eye' line. You know, KillerEye, DemonEye, JokerEye. This one seems to be a very strong JokerEye."

"Exactly, why is that? Viruses are generally standardised to power levels." Said ArsenalMan. "And what's more... there's something that doesn't feel right about this whole area."

"For the time being, let's not fight it." Said PlugMan.

"Huh?! Why..." Said Treble.

ArsenalMan nodded. "Look at how this area has been laid out. The eye is in an extremely defensible area, and we'd have to approach single-file without much hope of dodging. It would tear us to shreds before we got close."

"I could transform."

"No good. That ground is too far for you to cut around to even if you leap from walkway to walkway."

"Awww. Well, as long as it stays here it'll be fine, right?" Said Treble.

"Yeah. My worry is that it won't." Said ArsenalMan. "I don't want this thing to come and attack any uncustomised Navis. We should move some heavy data in front of it to keep it here."

"RockCube." Said MathMan. A large stone appeared in front of one of the walkways. "Let's hope nobody with a break-type chip gets curious as to why there's a big rock over this path."

"It'll probably be fine." Said PlugMan.

 **Author's notes: So, Treble is finally stronger than MathMan at his best! I hope you guys enjoyed the fight. Side question: What are everyone's favorite basic chips? I've been having Treble collect some of the more common ones offscreen, but if you want to see a personal favorite let me know!**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: Long may he reign. No problem giving you a shout, you're trying hard and improving. Round two... is coming.**


	14. Chapter 14: Rage

"Tomorrow." Said Arthur, sitting up. "The last round is tomorrow."

There was a dull thump as his hand bumped into the wall.

"I dreamed it was today and panicked myself awake." He said.

"Hehe." Said Treble. "You're almost as excited as me!"

"What's the time?"

"Seven thirty."

Arthur lay down. "Noooo..."

"Come on, let's go to the chip shop! Or maybe we can netbattle someone!" Encouraged Treble.

Arthur sat back up and got out of bed. "Yeah, I guess... but more sleep... never mind."

He flicked open his PET's emails. One new one.

'From: William

Somebody broke the Rockcube, and the JokerEye is gone. We've taken to calling the BeholderEye since it has extra power from somewhere. Anyway, Denny apparently has a lead on Gregar, but he didn't want to mail it around. Come to my locker as early as you can.'

"Good thing you're up, huh?" Said Treble.

* * *

Arthur came into the school ten minutes early, half grumpy over waking himself up early, half curious what Denny had found.

He rounded the corner to see everyone already waiting. William had a red face, like he'd run a few miles. "Good, you're here."

Denny hushed them. "PlugMan, are the cameras tapped?"

"Yes."

"Notify me if anyone comes in. Okay everyone, I've got a lock on Gregar. In seven hours time, when we're all free, he's going to be at one of two locations. Here." He indicated a pathway from a square online. "Or here." He switched to a different pathway. "As soon as we have a confirmed sighting, then the pair assigned to the area will attack immediately, and the other pair will move in a pincer formation to cut off the enemy retreat."

Joe nodded. "The pairs should be me and William, and you and Arthur. I have more experience fighting with William, and Mathman has gained the Pi gun since the last fight."

William raised a hand. "Only I have Northwind, and we need both groups to have one. Gregar seems to use some kind of Aura, and if left unchecked then it'll cause us no end of problems."

Denny checked his chips in his bag. "I have two. Arthur, want one in D or S code?"

"S. Definitely S. Most of my main folder is B, but I still have AreaSteals. So... which pathway is Gregar more likely to appear on? Treble hopes to fight him one-on-one. PlugMan could set up an ambush while we fight if you think we'll get betrayed."

"That's... surprisingly tactically sound. If you two fight him honorably, then that should both prolong the battle for us to arrive and possibly prevent him retreating, if he has a strong sense of pride." Said William.

"And If they do backstab you, then I can probably get the drop on Alias." Reasoned Denny.

"We got company. ETA two minutes." Warned PlugMan.

"Right. Gregar is more likely to pass through here, according to Joe's reports. He's made of bugs, the same as Treble, and there's a far greater number of viruses that have the potential to drop BugFrags for him to feed on." Said Denny. "Even if the path is slightly longer... Gregar probably needs BugFrags, in order to recover his full power."

"They're coming in." Warned PlugMan.

Denny looked at the screen. "Okay. Meeting adjourned, everyone." He shook himself for a second. "Got anything interesting to talk about?" He drawled.

"Did you see the coverage of the fights?" Said Arthur. "They got a great shot of MathMan."

"I actually didn't. Do you have a clip saved?" Said Joe.

* * *

First thing after school, Arthur rushed home and logged Treble into the net. "Let's get to that ambush point. Maybe we can bust a few viruses and get a bugfrag before Gregar shows up? I still can't believe we found only two after a full night of busting..."

"Hey, 620 health is pretty good. And anyway, if I just fight perfectly then I'll never even need any of it!"

"We both know perfect evasion is impossible. But... dodging is good. Also... I've been wondering. Joe achieved Full Synchro, and you saw what it let him do. Maybe we should try that."

"More power sounds good." Treble wandered through the net. "But... how do we even achieve it?"

"Well, I imagine we just have to be really in-tune with each other. Able to predict each other really well. I guess that if we just fought a lot of enemies, we'd naturally start to improve synchro, but maybe we could also eliminate what reduces our synchro..."

"Like personality clashes? You've got less enthusiasm than me, but... you're pretty easy to get along with. What else reduces it?"

"Bad NaviCust, which you can't have, and I think having other things influence either of our minds can also cause issues."

"Huh. Anyway, I'm getting close to the point. Where's PlugMan?"

"Denny wanted to visit the chipshop. Man, being low on money sucks. I should get a day job."

"I could sniff around for dropped money. I mean, sure nobody drops much, but sometimes a bit ends up in viruses."

"Good idea. Let's have a quick look around. Maybe get a new chip."

Treble took one sniff and shook his head. "He's coming."

Arthur swallowed. "...Gregar?"

"It's got to be. I'm... pretty excited to meet him, actually. Even if he's not at full power."

"I don't know if I should be concerned or impressed that you're not afraid of the guy. You saw how he left ArsenalMan."

"Yeah. But that's just a really good reason to beat the stuffing out of him... anyways." Treble took a deep breath, and stepped out from around the corner.

The first thing he saw was a Navi in a turquoise suit with yellow highlights. Perhaps nothing special to a passerby, but Treble could feel something unmistakable. Bugs, and a lot of them. Running behind them was another Navi that he recognised as Alias.

"Wait up! I know this is important, but you mustn't get so far ahead of me!" Shouted Alias.

Treble watched Gregar getting closer. He cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted. "Fiiight meee!"

Gregar stopped in confusion. "What?" He ran closer.

"Fight me!" Said Treble, to his face.

"...Alias. Did you hear that?" Said Gregar.

Alias finally caught up. "You can't just fight someone you met-"

"He actually ASKED! No cheap opening shot! Instant respect... even if you ARE a fake." Said Gregar, glaring. "I'll fight you!"

"Okay. But can you make Alias stay out of it? One-on-one."Asked Treble.

Alias looked worried. "Red flag here, he shouldn't know my na-"

"Shut up Alias. We've got a faker here."

Alias looked a combination of concerned and resigned. "Fine. I'll get Eth- our operator's attention."

The two Navis took a step back. PlugMan came into the server. "Treble! Oh, you found him. I'll just... wait here."

Treble stared at Gregar. At the moment he seemed normal enough, but a set of familiar armor seemed to already be appearing as a silhouette around Gregar. Treble looked at him knowingly. "So... no coward's tactics. Beast's honor?"

Gregar grinned. "How do we know each other so well already? Beast's honor. I'll destroy every fake I can find... but at least you're a quality one."

"Kiss already." Called PlugMan sarcastically.

"Ew." Said Treble. "Let's just slash each other up instead. I owe you payback for what you did to my friends."

"Sounds good!" Said Gregar.

There was one electrifying moment as the demeanor of the two navis changed. PlugMan and Alias could suddely feel the casual and friendly energy disappear from both Treble and Gregar. Alias was a little disappointed to see it go from Gregar.

 _It's rare I see him anything less than a pot of barely contained rage_.

But this was different again. Not rage... more of a mutual agreement. A duel until one of them was either deleted or worse.

 _Whoever this Treble is... he's not a normal navi at all. There's something about him that makes Gregar immediately treat him differently, recognise him as something like an equal... and it's not the personality_. Frowned Alias.

The whites left Treble's eyes, leaving them fully red, and his tongue disappeared. Gregar threw his hands back and let loose a shout that morphed into a roar, as the Gregar armor materialised around his body in a surge of power.

No more words were exchanged between the two as they dashed for each other. There was a melee fight in under a second. Gregar was faster, making a deadly cut at Treble's face with his right arm, but Treble parried and snarled, swinging the momentum into a full-speed jab for Gregar's exposed left arm. Gregar twisted out of the way, and went for Treble's stomach, but Treble found a chink in Gregar's defences, and cut him superficially across the helmet while backpedalling out of the cut. The two eyed each other for a second, and it was obvious they were about to go again.

Arthur tried to be predictive, analysing the fight. "Northwind, and WideSword in."

Gregar started to flare with power, and roared as a green aura appeared around him, molded to the shape of Gregar's true self. Treble roared himself, in challenge, and the NorthWind blew remorselessly. Gregar dropped into a lower stance, withdrawing his soul. Treble leapt into the air, imitating MathMan's technique for an aerial cut, WideSword ready to gut the target.

Gregar had other plans- and a NetOp of his own. He raised a Reflect as Treble hit, rebounding the damage, and then drew an arm back just a little before letting loose with a savage slash to Treble's chest. It cut deeply, and Treble stumbled back. Gregar raised a buster and it blazed with seemingly uncountable shots instantly, but Treble was gone, the shots spraying the nearby wall. Before Gregar could sheathe the heavy buster, Treble appeared by his side and stabbed his claws into Gregar's belly, before tearing them out.

The two locked eyes for one split second before they started another raging volley of melee attacks, every blow loaded with force. Each was injured, but they seemed to be berserk, totally beyond all knowledge of their limits. Or perhaps totally at peace with them.

Arthur sent more chips. "Thunder. VariableSword, Up, Right, Down."

Treble disengaged from the melee to launch the thunder, as Gregar skirted around the slow electricity Treble formed and swung the Wide VariableSword. Gregar caught it in his claws, and growled as the powerful edge actually cut in a little. Then at point blank, he blew fire in Treble's face. Treble was engulfed completely in the fire, and Gregar seemed to have a nearly unlimited supply until Treble leapt out, high in the air. Arthur could see he was going to land behind Gregar.

"BugCharge in."

Treble landed nimbly, armor weak and charred, but Gregar wasted a precious few seconds not realising Treble was behind him. He turned, and the first glowing replica of Treble's face tore into him, knocking him off his feet. The second rushed in, but Gregar didn't make any attempt to dodge. He raised a hand and took the bolt of power, stopping it with a shower of sparks. The third crashed into it, and exploded both. Gregar was left standing, his arm nearly deleted. Treble was knocked off balance, ending the BugCharge channel.

"Recover30, ElementBreath, HiCannon in!"

Treble sighed as a few of the cuts closed. Gregar was already moving for him, fast as a vehicle and with all the fury of a thunderstorm. Treble let him come, and took his turn to exhale destruction upon his enemy, Gregar charged right through the aqua flames uncaring of the damage, and suddenly Treble had a feeling like his soul was being grasped by a hand. He could just sense, maybe by smell, maybe by sight, maybe by the bugs that made the two, that Gregar was holding onto a FlameHook advance. The first giant, infernal fist materialised and rocketed towards Treble, plowing away the ground like a giant flaming fist through butter.

Treble threw himself forwards to dodge the deadly one-two, right onto Gregar's waiting LongSword. It struck a sure blow along Treble's side, but nonetheless it didn't slow either of them down. Treble hit the floor, and Gregar jammed his buster to Treble's head. It would have been an effective pin against a slower foe, but Treble twisted out, soft frills actually to his advantage- hard ones would have left him stuck. He whipped out the HiCannon, still on the floor, and shot Gregar in the leg. The unexpected blow caught Gregar off guard, actually causing him to recoil backwards a little. Treble scrambled to his feet, and threw his power into another strike at Gregar, but the recoil hadn't lasted for long, and Gregar matched it with his own, throwing them both back a few steps.

The two faced each other, starting to tire. Gregar closed his eyes and started to glow a little. There was a low growling in the air itself, as he said in a low tone. "I am the original. I will not lose to a fake."

Alias was the first to feel the change in the air. "Get to cover!" he yelled. PlugMan obliged, taking shelter alongside Alias behind a corner.

Treble didn't know what was coming, but he could feel Gregar's power building, smell the BugFrags that had forged him all being pushed to their max. He braced himself.

Arthur couldn't sense Gregar's self-induced BeastOver, but he could see the other Navis reacting to it. "Guard, Thunder in." He prayed that would be enough. He'd never seen Treble fight so intensely.

Gregar simply howled as his soul flared up and then seemed to flow back into him, and started to glow with a radiant green power. Treble dodged a wild blast from Gregar's buster, and then was forced to stop a claw taking his eye out with the guard. The reflected damage seemed to ignore Gregar entirely. Gregar recklessly performed a powerful slash forwards, knocking Treble's claws aside, and then another to deeply wound him on the side of the head. But the power was fading fast, and Arthur saw the opportunity he needed.

"Sword, WideSword, LongSword in. Program advance... hit him as he loses that power!"

But Treble's own strength was failing just as fast. The question was simply if he could survive long enough to even use the SoulSword. He clashed strikes with Gregar, and his claws failed, overpowered, but then there was a sound like hot breath, exhaustion incarnate. Treble swung the SoulSword as hard as he could. It cut into something.

Flare yelped.

Suddenly, Treble's berserker rage disappeared.

Flare was standing between Treble and Gregar, arms outstretched. Her armor had taken two bad hits, one side had the shoulderguard terribly mauled, almost destroyed, and the other side had a deep cut across her waist where the SoulSword had hit. "S-stop fighting. You could... be allies." She said. She fell to her knees.

Treble tried to move for her, and then the battle caught up to him. The many wounds, small and large caused him to stagger, clutching the deep gash on his chest. He moved to kneel in front of Flare. "Flare! Are you okay?!" Treble's voice caught. "Someone, log her out!"

"Flare!" Said Gregar. His arm had dissolved completely, and he was limping where his leg had been hit. "Get out of here! Now!"

"I'm... okay. I should have... used my aura." Said Flare, her Beast armor disappearing before a column of light removed her.

Treble slumped over on his side, unable to move. "Haaahhh... You know Flare?"

Gregar's leg gave out, and dropped him unceremoniously onto the floor. "Ungh. I could ask you the same question, fake..."

PlugMan walked over. "First things first... you gotta answer for your crimes. Past and present."

"Not happening." Said Alias. He vaulted over to Gregar, anticipating and dodging PlugMan's quick swing of a cable. "Let's get back to safety." He disappeared in a flash of light, taking Gregar with him.

PlugMan punched a wall and cursed. "I blew it! All that and I missed my damned taser wire!"

"Does that count as a win for me?" Said Treble from the floor. "I mean, that SoulSword would have totally deleted him..."

"Flare took heavy damage from Gregar, too. If he'd hit first, then you'd be the ghost." Said Arthur. "We... _really_ owe her."

"She knows more than she's letting on." Said PlugMan.

"Hm?" Said Treble.

"Flare. She just said that you two could be allies. That means that she somehow knows both of you well enough to say that you could work together. And Gregar knew her. If I took a guess... she's got some kind of link to him, since chance encounters aren't exactly common." Reasoned PlugMan. "Are you okay down there buddy?"

Treble tried to move a hand to give a thumbs up, and it didn't move. "I might be at 25 health."

MathMan burst into the server fromone side, and ArsenalMan the other. "Freeze!" Shouted Arsenalman.

MathMan just sighed. "It seems we're too late. Treble, did you get beaten?"

"No, I had him." Said Treble. "I'm just... taking a rest. Right here."

"You seem upset, my ally." ArsenalMan looked at PlugMan. "Is something wrong?"

"...I'm just sore over my own incompetency." Said PlugMan. "If I'd swung my attack just a little higher, then we'd have our targets." He sighed, and walked over to Treble and lay down on his back, hands on his face. "All those with regrets over the last five minutes are welcome to join."

MathMan calmly walked over and sat crosslegged. "I took a wrong turn getting here."

ArsenalMan shrugged and walked over. "My plan got Treble hurt. But hear this: self-pity isn't going to do anything. It won't make us stronger or wiser. Reflection will. What could we have done better?"

Treble coughed. "I think... I need a buster. It doesn't have to be good. Just... I need a ranged attack."

"More practice. Arsenalman, perhaps I could have some of your drills?" Said PlugMan.

"I'll buy one of those automatic map programs. I've got the money." Said MathMan.

ArsenalMan smiled approvingly. "And I'll study even more. Treble, you should log out for now. You're going to give someone a bug."

"...Got it." Said Treble.

"Come on back, Treble." Said Arthur. "You fought well."

* * *

Treble felt the repair program set itself up around him and start restoring the damaged data. "Ahhh..."

"You know, I'm told that Euraisa are developing an improved version of this program that's meant to feel like a warm shower. Apparently it's going to be very realistic." Commented Arthur.

"Huh. I can't really see the appeal of getting covered in that stuff on aqua panels. It just bogs down movement. But it would be interesting to feel it when it's warm and not cold..." Said Treble.

"Anyway, there's something serious I have to ask about... What happened to you in that fight? I know you enjoy destruction, but I haven't seen you so... crazed before."

"He's just like me. I felt that the fight was to until one of us could absorb the other. Something at the heart of me, it drives me to get stronger. It knew that defeating him would have massively jumped my power. But... I didn't like it. It felt like I was losing control of myself... to myself." Said Treble.

"...Don't forget how I made you. I tinkered with your personality. Maybe... that's your true self trying to take over." Arthur shook himself at his own words. "That was harsh of me. Sorry."

"NO! I'm the real me." Said Treble firmly. "Even if the objective I was made to follow was changed... I'm the original. 'Bass: Gospel, production 02'. There. That's literally the record for my AI- My soul. It would automatically update if it were changed."

"...Sorry for having doubts. I know you can control your power." Said Arthur. "So that leaves Flare... I think PlugMan is right. She must be connected to Gregar. It's way too much of a co-incidence for her to show up twice."

"Can you keep a secret?" Said Treble.

"Of course."

"She's Falzar. I didn't put two and two together until now, but then when I smelled her again... I realised it. And it makes a lot of sense, since her scent reminded me of Bass, and the armor she wears is styled after a bird. I'd probably have worked it out faster if I'd seen a picture of the original Falzar. Hey, I wonder if she can do that soul thing? The soul thing is cool. I want that ability."

"But... why would Falzar protect two of the things she was made to destroy? Still- I can believe it. Most Navis would have been ripped to shreds by intercepting those attacks, and she had nothing worse than a deep cut and a ruined shoulder. Why do you want me to keep it secret, though?"

"She'd tell us if she wanted us to know. And... I don't want to freak her out if we meet her again." Said Treble.

"Okay. I won't tell a soul. It's yours to reveal when you want."

"Great! Then let's go and get some more BugFrags. I won't lose to Gregar!"

* * *

BugFrag hunting had been moderately successful. Treble held his prize up to the sky. "Take that, Swordy!"

"Heyyy, an AquaSword W. Perhaps not B coded, but I'll take it for sure. We can use it with that neutral thunder." Said Arthur.

Treble stuffed the BugFrag into his mouth. "Mmm. It's a shame you can't try these things."

"I'm not like you. Even if I could... it probably would taste like soap." Said Arthur.

"Nonono, it just tastes kind of nice. The REALLY good bit is when you can feel all the bits of data getting moved around inside you." Said Treble. "I can feel myself getting a little bit stronger!"

"...I can't imagine enjoying feeling something get moved inside me."

"Even if it made you stronger?"

"Being stronger wouldn't be bad. But come on, I heard that you can find CannonRaids here, and they can drop B-coded MarkCannons. The finals are tomorrow, so we should try and get ourselves powered up!"

"Yeah!"

 **Author's notes: World's biggest shoutout to**

 _ **JANEVALENTINE007**_

 **For absolutely phenomenal fanart of Treble. You can view it in great resolution at her WattPad account, same name. I don't know if I can thank her enough for this, but if she ever needs a favor, I'll be sure to give her as much as I can.**

 **Reveiwer answers!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : I sympathise, SolCross was truly difficult to ever unlock. DestroyPulse is a pretty cool advance, although for a long time I thought it was 'DestinyPulse'**

 **Guest: For a fight like that, I had to really go all out, and make sure everyone knew how good MathMan was at fighting before the chapter, and have him beat Treble before, to really make the prospect of losing truly tangible. Treble would be very happy to hear someone call him The Man. A lovely day will be had.**

 **RushAlias: Here's your answer! I'll wait for you to catch up before I post the next chapter, since I know you're in the middle of a scenario right now. And we can't have that for next chapter. ;)**


	15. Chapter 15: Sanctuary

"Local finals, here we come!" Said Arthur, stepping out of the house into a refreshing morning.

"I can't wait! I wish the afternoon would get here faster." Said Treble.

"And miss out on a chance to see everyone?"

"True! Anyway, where could I get a buster? They don't just sell them on their own..." Said Treble, looking at his hands. "And how would I hold it?"

"William might be able to program one, but the problem is that even though they don't hinder you anymore, your bugs would probably corrupt a standard buster if we just sort of threw one in there."

"Hey, I know where it can go!" Said Treble. "I could attach it to my tail!"

"Not a bad idea, but are you sure it'll be accurate?"

"Nothing practice can't solve!"

"You got me there. Well, I'll do my best to get you a good one. Now, what strategy should we use for ChanceMan? I just know he's going to immediately roll something lucky." Said Arthur.

"I'll rush him, but give me a guard. He telegraphs his attack wayyy too much, with those spinning dials. Once I hit him with that it's basically over."

"Hah, look at you, you aspiring strategist. I think that's a good plan. He can't counter it without having some fancy chips hidden up his sleeve."

* * *

Joe called Arthur over to one side the moment he entered school. "Denny won't be in today, and if anyone asks it's the flu."

"He's gone looking for Gregar full-time?"

"No." Said Joe. "The two of us discussed it, and it makes more sense to try and track down Flare. Hopefully she can provide us with an explanation as to what's going on. William's been tracking that BeholderEye down, because it's gone missing and we don't want it going after anyone."

"I see." Said Arthur. "Suddenly, I feel kind of useless. Is there anything I can do?"

"Win the tournament, of course. We chose not to give you a task because it's important you get far into it. The chips that will be given out as prizes for this local final alone are powerful enough to give us a significant edge over our enemies. And they'll only get better if you can get far into the Nationals."

"About that..." Said Arthur. "Treble, you know how Sanctuary is a holy chip?"

"You're not going to give it away are you?! We worked hard for it!"

"Well, we can't use it. And I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving us a few BugFrags in return." Arthur raised an eyebrow in Joe's direction.

Joe shrugged. "Well, same logic, we can't use them. And I've been doing a lot of BBS work, so I don't need the money from selling them either."

"It's a trade then! Sanctuary for a bunch of BugFrags." Sad Arthur.

"It may be wise to note that you haven't yet." Said MathMan.

"Yes we have!" Said Treble. "...That's sarcasm, I'm not that big-headed."

"I'm personally feeling confident about this one, anyway." Said Arthur.

Joe smiled. "What, no pessimism?"

"...Not sure if that's a joke or not, but as long as I'm careful and serious, then I think we're going to win this one." Said Arthur. "And I don't say that lightly."

* * *

Arthur sat at his desk, comtemplating the coming match.

Unlike the previous rounds, the finals were to be held in an online arena. It was a centralised area near the school, and had a stadium that hundreds of Navis could sit and watch in. Without the risks and brutalities the gladiators of old had faced, combat had become quite the popular sport. The finals of every local area were to be televised, broadcasted live.

"...It's a shame we knocked MathMan out in the last round." Said Treble. "Everyone loves a close fight, including me."

"I'm going to stop you there. If you don't take him seriously, ChanceMan WILL get lucky and log you out." Reminded Arthur. "No bragging until the fight is over and done."

"Yeah, okay. So, am I going in like this or in Origin form?"

"Basic form is more effective versus a single enemy. But if you can bug his movement to be a little slower, then Origin will be just as good at attacking and way harder to actually delete."

"Gotcha! Well, I can't really choose what kind of bug I inflict, but maybe I'll get lucky!"

"Anyway... I wonder how Denny's getting on? Hopefully Flare isn't too elusive."

"I hope PlugMan doesn't scare her away. You know, with that tiny bit of DarkPower in him."

"She's not scared of you, and... she _was_ made to kill things like you."

"Good point! Then PlugMan will totally find her."

The PET beeped, and Arthur flicked open his Email.

'The finals begin in half an hour! Come to the online arena, and prepare to determine the strongest local Navi!'

"Well then." Arthur pointed the PET at his desk's port confidently. "Treble, hunt!"

* * *

Treble appeared in a column of light, to see two familiar Navis waiting. "Guys!" He said.

"We didn't have the money to get tickets to the fight, but we'll be watching." Said Arsenalman. "And... take this. Good luck, my ally!" He passed Treble a BugFrag.

"Same here. Treble, tell Arthur to talk to Joe to get our good-luck gift." Said MathMan.

"Arthur, Joe's got something for you!"

Arthur turned around. "This..!"

"You can win. Although after, remind me to battle you. I need to get yours." Said Joe.

"What did you get?" Said Treble.

"MathMan EX."

"EX?"

"It means it's more powerful. An EX chip is a higher-quality reproduction of the Navi it mimics, and generally requires an externally perfect copy of a Navi's combat routine. There is another tier, a SP chip, but that requires actually HAVING the Navi's routines. You can't get them without spending upwards of fifty hours processing the data to make a total copy that fits inside a chip, or I guess you could use the originals and leave the Navi defenseless... Oh, but they're holy." Explained Arthur.

"Wow. So... this is the most powerful MathMan chip I can use?"

"Yes. Use it well, okay?" Said MathMan. "And come and fight me sometime! I'd like to try and get your EX chip."

"I will!"

"You'd better go now. We won't make you late, ally." Said ArsenalMan.

"Bye guys!" Said Treble, running off. As he ran, he glanced back to Arthur. "Let's make an SP chip of me!"

"Why? Are you going to give it away? That's not like you." Said Arthur.

"It sounds fun! And I think we should give it to MathMan. He's done loads for us!" Said Treble.

"Well, if you want to then I'll try my best. I'll have to go through your combat programs myself, I warn you."

"...I trust you." Said Treble. "Well, you can copy them out, right?"

"Not very easily. You'd probably bug out the copy function, assuming they even fit. I'm going to have to copy it all manually, and then try and make it fit into a battlechip. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes. MathMan's awesome."

"Alright then. I'll do my best later. But for now, let's get to that arena."

"Gotcha!"

* * *

Treble arrived, tail wagging. "Hey, I like the feel of this place!" The Arena page's background was an assortment of weaponry, and the walls (where present) were adorned with snapshots of particularly stunning battles, navis old and new fighting with every kind of weapon imaginable.

"I wonder why." Said Arthur sarcastically. "You better go find the front desk. I wonder if the backstage here has anything interesting..."

"Hey there!" Called Treble to an arena Navi in front of a statue. "I'm here to fight in the finals, where do I go?"

The navi brought out a list. "Hmm... Are you Treble? Take this PrepKey, and go to that exit, on the far left. You can prepare as you see fit." He handed a little blue key to Treble and pointed to a door.

"Thanks!" Treble jogged over to a weak barrier. He could have probably deleted it with a single swipe, and quashed the urge to do so. He held the PrepKey up to the barrier and it opened. Treble stepped in.

The PrepPage was simple in design, with an inactive warp pad at one end, a practice range to one side and an open space to the other. But the immediate thing Treble noticed was the data left in the open area. He walked over and picked up a file of some kind. "Memo: Security. Staff only..."

"What does it say?" Asked Arthur.

"Whoever was meant to update our stadium's protection must do so immediately, prior to wednesday at least. Failure to do so is a breach of policy and places the company's reputation in danger, and will result in dismissal... Someone's getting fired." Said Treble. "I wonder if they actually got around to updating the protection?"

"Well, protection against what? I somehow doubt any protection will stop Bass and his stupid portals."

"I wonder if we actually stand a chance against him yet?"

"Mmm... Don't think so. Although having his own Giga Chip to use against him is nice. Anyway, let's wait on that pad. I'll get all our chips out, minus the Eurasia Navi ones."

* * *

It took fifteen minutes, but finally, an intercom message played.

'Contestants, good luck! We're activating the warp areas in ten seconds... Give it all you got!'

Treble stretched, even if he had no muscles to loosen it felt good. "Ready Arthur?"

"You bet."

Treble disappeared in a column, and warped into the main arena. It was a large stadium reminiscent of a physical baseball stadium, with a great circular slope of seats. But rather than grass and the occasional stone plate, the entire floor was holy panels. ChanceMan was opposite.

'Ladies and gentlemen! The final round of combat to decide the strongest battler in Copperhill town begins in three! Two! ONE!'

ChanceMan's dials started spinning. "Feeling lucky?"

"Treble, destroy! Guard, AquaSword, in!"

"Who needs luck when you have skill?" Shouted Treble, approaching quickly. ChanceMan's dials dinged to a halt. Three BAR symbols. A handful of coins were spat in Treble's general direction, and harmlessly pinged off the guard, which sent a slow wave towards ChanceMan. ChanceMan dodged effortlessly at that range, but Treble closed the gap and slashed with the AquaSword. The holy flooring improved ChanceMan's defences a lot, and the sword barely cut in. ChanceMan backed off as much as possible, and raised...

"Is that corn?" Said Treble, without breaking his attack.

The CornShot peppered him in the chest, grass instantly replacing the holy panels below him. A flaming fist appeared from nowhere, and socked him directly underneath the jaw, simultaneously igniting the grass panel below him. Treble's health plummeted, but then he was upon ChanceMan.

ChanceMan's melee skills weren't as poor as ArsenalMan, but compared to the likes of MathMan and Gregar he was nothing. Treble feinted a swipe for one arm, and then performed a one-two slash bugging out ChanceMan instantly, his arm stiffening and balance shifting.

"Nice going! Now, Thunder, and MarkCannon2 in!"

Treble gave a laugh of enjoyment, and bowled the Thunder at point-blank range. ChanceMan didn't have ANY chance of dodging it. Treble pointed the MarkCannon and fired, the lock-on ensuring he didn't miss. ChanceMan shook himself out of the paralysis, clearly beaten up, and pulled out a wrecking ball, slamming it onto the floor. A rumbling wave crawled forwards, but in his base form Treble was agile enough to have sat down and eaten a BugFrag before the wave hit. He leapt over it, and landed an absolutely perfect hit with his claws, leaving three parallel grooves straight down across ChanceMan. "Ohh, _that_ felt good!" Treble glanced at his own hand.

ChanceMan gritted his teeth. Treble had no lips, but would have smiled. HP bugs don't care about HolyPanels. ChanceMan recovered some health and started to focus.

A WoodDragon materialised to Treble's left, and charged around him, attempting to encircle Treble. Arthur reacted quickly.

"AreaSteal, LongSword!"

Treble phased out of the WoodDragon's coil, and reappeared right as ChanceMan slashed with a WideBlade. The two swords clashed, and the inferior LongSword shattered. ChanceMan followed through on Treble's moment of vulnerability with another CornShot.

"Let's finish this with style. ElementBreath, BugCharge in!"

Treble had an idea of his own for using the chips. As ChanceMan tried not to be close to him, he put his strength into a mighty leap right over his head, landing behind him. ChanceMan jumped back as far as he could, and landed on the GrassPanels. Treble's quick strategy paid off, as he took a breath and spat burning-hot flame over ChanceMan. ChanceMan was knocked over from the huge damage, and Treble glowed. One shot of BugCharge was enough.

'ChanceMan defeated!'

ChanceMan was not logged out, instead remaining on the floor, relatively intact. "Uggh. Anyone got... a bugfix?" He passed out.

A heal navi ran over. "MiniEnergy! Come on girls, let's get him up."

Treble raised his arms to the cheering crowd, drinking in the wild applause.

'And the crowd roars! Give it up for the new local champion of Copperhill! Treble! Mighty victor, hold your hand out and recieve your prize!' Said the announcer.

"Well... done." Said ChanceMan.

Treble held out one palm, as the Sanctuary chip started to descend from the ceiling. But some little strand of him, something more akin to a real animal than a program, still made him feel uneasy. And then... he realised something. His cosmetics hadn't reappeared. He tried to sense what he was still in combat with, ChanceMan no longer posing a threat. And then there was a small rumble. Treble felt something resonate with his bugs.

The Sanctuary chip stopped descending.

And then everything went to pieces.

The floor's panels cracked, and a huge laser beam broke through, sending dozens of panels flying and knocking Treble off his feet. From the giant hole rose an all-too familiar virus. The BeholderEye. Treble scrambled to his feet, but the virus was already floating upwards out of his reach, and his battle data still needed to refresh. The BeholderEye floated up to the Sanctuary chip, and upon contact, the chip was sucked into the virus.

"You... THIEVING LITTLE-!" Snarled Treble.

The BeholderEye vibrated for a moment, HolyPanels suddenly plating it's body as the eye turned pure black with a glowing red pupil. The size tripled, and the eyelid became crested with a sharp golden frill that seemed somehow familiar. It gazed downwards, and a little tired from battle, a little awed by the giant virus- Treble didn't realise it was about to attack. It fired a beam of pure malevolence at Treble, and for one split second Treble thought _I'm deleted._

He was knocked to the side.

Treble, and the whole stadium saw ChanceMan get hit by the death ray, completely engulfing him. He was deleted instantly, the floor where he'd been standing breaking from the power of the attack. The crowd went silent in deathly shock.

The BeholderEye sunk into the floor without another motion. Treble ran for the hole, but the eye was gone before he could get near. He dropped to his knees. " _NOOOOO_!"

"ChanceMan..." Whispered Arthur.

Treble forced himself up, running over to where ChanceMan had been deleted. "ChanceMan! Come on! Come back as a ghost! Or something! Anything! Please!" He was hesitant for a moment, trying every program he had to search for ChanceMan. Not even a tiny bit remained. The deletion had been absolute. ChanceMan hadn't any hope, at one HP. "I'm going after that virus." Said Treble, voice giving way to something harder and angrier.

"Wait." Said Arthur.

Treble was about to shout in protest when Arthur continued.

"Heal first." Arthur activated a FullEnergy and looked to Joe and William, silent fury behind his posture. "Get Denny. I want that virus' location in the next ten minutes."

"Yes sir." Said William.

Treble's wounds had closed. "I'll avenge you! ChanceMan!" He looked to the crowd, searching for words. Only a few came, as Treble searched with a furious frown. "I swear, I'll not rest until that Virus is gone! Deleted for good!" He ran for the stadium exit, before the crowd could react.

* * *

"Denny's got the location. The virus is here, in UnderNet area 1." Said William. "ArsenalMan and MathMan are already en route. Meet us here." He pointed to a map."

"Treble, I'm sending directions." Said Arthur. "Joe, strategy?"

"We have to shut down that death ray, obviously. I think it sees through invisibility, but a blinder might buy us enough time to get close and AreaSteal. Whoever goes in has to lock it down, because it'll easily beat us in a ranged fight."

"William, can Joe have your AirShoes? ArsenalMan will just get shot down."

"What about you?"

"Treble can provide cover for ArsenalMan with Origin. Even if that beam can penetrate Treble's defences, it won't be able to kill him unless he gets hit for a long time."

"Roger."

"Treble, sending chips now. Clear the path for the others." Said Arthur, slotting in the combo.

Treble howled as he transformed, and charged forwards. "I **WILL** DESTROY THEM!"

ArsenalMan and MathMan trailed behind him, weapons drawn. But Treble's fury wasn't leaving any viruses to deal with. He was taking his anger out on the local viruses to great effect. Arthur watched as a Swordy tried to get in Treble's way while Treble already had his claws busy with other viruses and Treble simply opened his mouth and ate it with a crunch. It didn't take long at all to reach an out-of-the-way area. Treble ran in, followed by MathMan and ArsenalMan.

The BeholderEye was waiting for them. Instantly, it let loose a giant laser, stopping Treble in his tracks. Treble gritted and bore the attack as ArsenalMan started to fire at the giant target. His bullets seemed to be having little effect against the holypanels that coated the virus.

MathMan was already running forwards, and the BeholderEye cast it's gaze upon him, preparing to use the laser.

"Blinder!" Yelled ArsenalMan. There was a flash of searing light. The BeholderEye flinched, losing it's aim of MathMan.

MathMan teleported in close, a BubbleStar loaded. But to his dismay, the BeholderEye's reaction speed was far greater than any other virus, and it almost instantly hovered away, travelling with unbelievable speed for such a massive virus. "..." MathMan frowned, as the BubbleStar missed completely.

"Treble, cover him!" Said Arthur frantically.

ArsenalMan on his back, Treble dashed forwards and intercepted the long-range disintegration beam with his incredibly tough side. Even as the floor panels were torn apart, his hide held.

ArsenalMan opened fire, but then had to duck behind Treble's frill as the beam passed over it.

Treble groaned. "KILL THAT BUGGER!"

ArsenalMan tried to fire again, and the ray clipped one of his gatling guns. It was blown clean off. "Agh! I can't, it's got me pinned down!"

"We're outmatched." Said MathMan. "We... we have to retreat."

"NO!" Treble started to walk forwards even as the beam focused upon him. The BeholderEye simply moved back.

"...They're right. We can't deal with this much mobility and firepower. We should retreat while you're still in good shape." Said Arthur.

And then Treble felt something all too familiar. He formed a strategy on the fly. He reared and shook, throwing ArsenalMan to the ground. He walked forwards a little more, and placed a hind leg by ArsenalMan, then kicked him the length of the server, to safety. Three other Navis had entered. And they could turn the tide.

There was a shift in the air as an avian Navi soared past Treble as fast as a hurricane. Orange armor was vibrant against the dark background of the area. And then another Navi in green armor sprinted past Treble, leaping for the BeholderEye faster than it could move. Both drew weapons.

Flare took out a BugBomb- Treble's BugBomb, and with all the grace of air pitched a curveball straight into the BeholderEye's exposed eye. Gregar produced a HiCannon and shot at the underside.

The BeholderEye turned to fire it's laser at Flare, and suddenly a HyperBurst nailed it. Treble couldn't turn, but all the same he knew it was Alias that had just fired the powerful advance.

William knew the winning strategy. "Cycle your attacks, that will keep it off balance! Treble, shepherd it to let the rest of us do the damage! Protect us!"

Treble focused on keeping the BeholderEye blocked in. "CYCLE YOUR ATTACKS!" He roared, relaying the message to the whole team, and jumping in front of a laser meant for Alias, a tiny growl of pain slipping out.

Joe was first to have a good idea. "Symphony, Timpani, Discord, Silence, RockCube." MathMan grandly spread his arms as the orchestra appeared and began to play. Suddenly, everyone felt empowered and the BeholderEye was crippled.

Gregar roared "That's MY power! And it will obey me!" He held out a clawed arm, and made a ripping motion. Suddenly the BeholderEye began to spark, entering some kind of struggle against whatever Gregar was doing. It was as if it was being torn apart.

ArsenalMan raised an M-Cannon, and started tracking the gaze of the virus. "Alias, it's aiming for you." He warned.

Alias nimbly sidestepped, and stared with certainty. "Recalling HyperBurst!" The powerful gun reformed, and Alias made another clean shot.

"FolderBack. Poltergeist." Finished Joe. Another round of summons appeared, and all ten levitated. MathMan pointed to the BeholderEye, and it was slammed with a ludicrously powerful barrage of debris. It's armor started to show cracks, but the lack of moves outside the death ray meant the BeholderEye was in trouble.

Flare soared above the fight, continually strafing with the Falzar buster until she recieved a chip. "Yahhh!" She shouted, folding in her wings and dropping in a kamikaze dive. As she picked up speed, she activated a barrier of all things. She held out a taloned hand, and raked it across the BeholderEye's eye, the barrier shattering instantly but giving her the needed moment of safety for the attack. Before hitting the floor, she spread her wings and made a sharp U-turn back into the air.

Gregar was forced to stop his channelling as the gaze turned upon him. The BeholderEye skirted away, faster than even Flare. "Oh, you little... You! Fake! I'm gonna paralyse them, get your best shot ready!" He called to Treble, before starting to run forwards fearlessly.

"Here we go. Three spreaders, in. Program advance, HyperBurst. Convert to VanishingWorld." Said Arthur.

Treble started to glow. "DON'T STAND IN THE WAY OF THIS!"

Gregar felt the sudden increase in power, and decided to comply, moving to the left as the BeholderEye's beam trailed him. Treble started to run in closer. Gregar came into range, and began to channel the paralysis again. "Blast them! NOW!"

Treble was bounding forwards at full speed, glowing brighter and brighter as the advance converted. He started to feel the crackling in his throat, but it was okay- he was close enough...

Treble leapt and stretched out a front paw, dragging down the BeholderEye and pinning it.

He bent his head down, and fired the VanishingWorld at point blank. Knowing how it would feel to fire, instead of a long screaming shout, he roared at full volume.

Everything was whited out for a moment, and when Flare's eyes cleared she saw Treble lying on the floor several steps away from the hole where the BeholderEye was, thrown by the recoil. Gregar was also flat on his back, and the others had been at a safe range. The BeholderEye shakily tried to move, but she could see it was on the brink of deletion. She landed firmly, and raked it's charred face again, and again, watching the health drop. 100. 90. 80. 70. 60. 50. 40. 30. 20. 10. And then some small memory resurfaced, and she stopped, breath catching in her throat. _No. I won't fall back into my blind pursuit of a target._ "Gregar. All yours."

Gregar picked himself up, and walked over. He growled, and with great force punched a hole in the BeholderEye's face. He glowed green for a moment, and the BeholderEye's cresting and claws disappeared. He ripped his hand out, holding a chip. Sanctuary. The BeholderEye dissolved. "My power returns... and I gain new strength! A new attack... LightningRush!"

Treble returned to normal. "Vengeance is mine. I hope ChanceMan would feel better knowing that."

"Yes." Said Arthur. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Tired."

MathMan stepped forwards. "You've done us a great favor, you three."

Flare seized her opportunity. "I think now would be a good time for us to all talk some things out?"

"I agree." Treble locked eyes with Flare. "But does he?"

Gregar was glaring at everyone. "What, so I don't instantly trust some people who tried to delete me. Big whoop. I'm leaving before you turn turn on me... Then again." He started walking away. "You're not a bad imitation, Treble. Almost as good as the real thing." He threw a chip into the air, and Treble caught it. The Sanctuary.

"Well, I'm staying." Said Flare. "...Someone has to explain. I can't give in to fear now."

ArsenalMan ignored Gregar. "Well... let me introduce our group. I'm ArsenalMan. This is MathMan, and Treble is left."

"I'm Flare. This is Alias." Flare seemed nervous, trying to put on a brave face.

"I'm not sure we should trust them." Said Alias to Flare. "You've attacked us before."

"You're free to go, if you wish." Said MathMan. "I can't offer much else in the way of building trust."

Flare dismissed the worry. "We're safe with these Navis as long as we don't attack. I've seen that ArsenalMan is honorable."

"...I'm staying, just in case. Maybe Gregar thinks Treble has some sort of honor, but I know his elec friend doesn't." Said Alias. "You two won't touch a friend of mine without going through me." He looked at MathMan and ArsenalMan.

"We won't attack without reason. We were under orders to find and take on the cybeast as fast as possible." Said ArsenalMan.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry we attacked your friends. But under those circumstances we would have been idiots not to." Said MathMan.

"I-It's okay." Said Flare.

 _She's nervous. No, terrified. She's a cybeast too... And I don't think she likes being the one to carry a conversation._ Thought Treble. "Hey, I wouldn't let them attack you either. And anyway, ArsenalMan owes you his life."

Flare calmed a little. "Thanks. So... I should answer some questions."

"First of all- what do you know about Gregar? What are his intentions?" Said ArsenalMan.

"And more curiously, why would he be a good ally to us?" Added ArsenalMan.

Flare took a steady breath. "I..."

"Let me." Said Alias. "Gregar, as you seem to know, is the _actual_ cybeast Gregar. But, he's lost a lot of his power, and it's been absorbed by viruses. We're trying to hunt them all down and kill them before things like today happen."

"Yes, I don't like fighting, but if I don't then Gregar's lost power will get a lot of Navis deleted." Said Flare. "As far as we know... the only way to properly contain it is to have him re-absorb it."

"But why would Gregar be a good ally to us?" Said Treble. "I've been wondering that too." He stared at Flare. _Do you know that I know? If only I could tell you privately..._

"He... he doesn't really make allies that easily. I think you might have some common ground with him, though..." Said Flare.

 _She knows what I am, at least mostly._ "And... you don't?" Said Treble.

"I-I... have a past with him." Said Flare.

Alias took the pressure off her. "We should go, Flare."

"Oh, before you do..." Said MathMan. "There's an abandoned BBS we use, in this server." He summoned a map of the Old Undernet. "The server is a mess, but nobody else ever goes there."

Treble looked at the Sanctuary chip in his hand. He quickly wrote a few words in a file- _I know you're Falzar, but it's ok._ And attached them to the chip. "Flare... you hate battling, right? I can't use this chip, so maybe you should have it. You might struggle to find good attacks otherwise." He held out the chip.

"I-I can't take this! It's so valuable..." Said Flare. She noticed the text file, realising it might be important. "...but, okay. Just until we've rounded up the lost power. Goodbye." She logged out.

Alias followed.

"Let's go for now, guys." Said Treble sadly. "I... I need to go and do something."

* * *

Treble walked over to the broken spot in the Arena flooring and knelt. A Navi rushed over. "We're so sorry-"

"Shut up." Said Treble plainly. There was an undertone that implied not shutting up would end in deletion.

Arthur sent a text file.

Treble read the message and nodded. "ChanceMan... maybe somewhere out there, there's fraction of you left. You might not be as powerful as the likes of MegaMan, but I think- I bet- that there's something left of you. So... if you can hear me... then I'm sorry, but I can't search for you right now. I have to put something else first, just until monday. But when that's done, I'll come and find you. I promise." Treble stood up and turned to look at the Arena Navi. "Speak."

"That virus shouldn't have been able to get in here. It was our lack of protection that allowed it."

"And now a good Navi is gone."

"...It's true. We're finished as a company after this. It's a scandal."

"Is there a point to this conversation? I'm not happy with you people." Treble's voice had uncharacteristic bite to it.

"I... heard you avenged ChanceMan. And if you can't look for the remnants of his data... we will."

"You'll look for his ghost?"

"We're all guilty. It's the only thing we can do to try and make it up."

"...I'll forgive you if you find him." Said Treble.

A new voice called out. "Hold up! Official!"

Treble turned to see a new Navi in steel-gray armor run up. They had a darker gray suit, and red markings along their gauntlets. Treble counted four long blades adorning the armor. One on each gauntlet, one on each leg. "Huh? Who are you?" He glanced to the Arena Navi. "...You should leave." They backed off.

"I am Ember. We're collecting some witness reports, and you seem a good choice."

"Is this about..." Treble tried to think of a way to phrase the question he had to. "Our allies against the virus?"

"Not officially. But we have seen some... interesting reports."

"Okay, what can I tell you?"

"We want to know if you've seen any indication there was illegal work that allowed the virus to enter here. And... if you wouldn't mind telling-"

"Not telling about the fight. I didn't see any illegal stuff, but I found a discarded memo about security. I left it back in the preparation room."

"Thank you for your time... and not as an official but a fellow local champion, perhaps we should stay in touch? We're likely to face each other." Said Ember.

Treble brightened a little. "That sounds nice. Hey, what kind of chips do you use?"

"Hmm... we try to specialise, but you can't go wrong with a good old AirHockey." Said Ember.

"AirHockey? I haven't heard of that one..."

"...If I gave you one, would you give me some 'rumors' about the cybeast signature we saw down there? We saw 3 different ones, but we haven't actually seen any beasts."

Arthur looked at Treble. "Be careful. We can't tell them about the others."

"Well... I'm pretty sure I can't say too much... but maybe try taking a look through some higher-ranked files." Said Treble.

Ember paused for a moment, listening to her NetOp. "As exciting as this is, need I remind you your brother will explode if he finds out you stole his security clearance." She refocused. "Sorry. My NetOp gets a little excited sometimes. We'll take a look around." Ember walked off.

Treble grinned back to Arthur, sadness momentarily forgotten. "She didn't realise." He said quietly.

* * *

Arthur got home to find his mother waiting. "Is your Navi okay?!" Asked his mother frantically.

"Treble's alright."

"Hi."

Mrs. Penn placed a hand over her heart. "Oh, thank goodness... We've all been terrfied he got hurt. And that poor ChanceMan..."

"We avenged him." Said Treble.

"Everyone came together to delete that virus." Said Arthur.

"As a mother... I... should scold you for being so reckless... but I couldn't be prouder. Don't let that encourage you, but I'm so proud. He deserved justice. And you got it to him quick as a flash."

"...Yeah. Come on, let's go and sit down. I'm... a bit frazzled after today."

"I wonder if you'll make the news? Go turn the tv on, I'll make us some toast."

Arthur sat down, and let Treble into the tv.

"We're top story!" Exclaimed Treble. "Look!"

The tv cut to the local news, showing footage of the tournament, ending in ChanceMan's sacrifice. 'There is already public outcry over lack of security at the tournament, that almost lead to the deletion of everyone there. If not for the heroic actions of ChanceMan, the virus could have turned itself upon the crowd. Yet the story doesn't end there, viewers! Treble, victor of the tournament swore vengeance there and then, and left without another word. Official scans of the undernet suggest he tracked down the virus with the aid of several navis and deleted it, so we can all rest a little easier. We'll keep you updated as the story unfolds.'

"We actually made top story. Wow." Said Arthur.

* * *

Later, Arthur sat at his computer. "So... are you feeling alright about ChanceMan?"

"Just angry. I hesitated, and... if I hadn't, then ChanceMan wouldn't have had to push me. But I'll be ok. I won't let it affect me."

"You can vent to me if you want."

"I'd rather take it out on the viruses."

"Fair enough. Let's go hunting."

 **Author's notes: One of the darker chapters I've had planned. And a temporary resolution to the Cybeast problem.  
**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: Thanks!**


	16. Chapter 16: Preparation

Arthur sat up and yawned. "Last day of school today."

"Wish I felt more excited." Said Treble.

"Still feeling down over ChanceMan? ...Me too." Said Arthur.

Treble nodded. "If only there was some way to bring him back without having to hunt down the ghost."

"Hey, at least he's probably going to be back eventually. And he saved a lot of navis." Arthur stretched. "Ugh, it's too early to be like this. But still, I should speak to Gallo too..."

"Oh, don't forget to start making that SP chip of me!" Said Treble.

"I won't. Although, maybe we should get William to help."

"Maybe."

* * *

Arthur walked in, looking for Joe. He couldn't see him anywhere, but he could see another familiar face. "Gallo!" He called.

Gallo turned. "...Arthur."

"I'm sorry about ChanceMan." Said Arthur.

"He made his choice."

"...Is there anything I can do for you? I owe you more than I can really say."

"..." Gallo looked to one side, then perked up, realising something. "Actually, there is something. I'm going to have a temporary replacement Navi, but they don't arrive until tomorrow. Could I borrow Treble for this last schoolday? I'll drop him off at your house at six PM."

Arthur slipped his PET out of his pocket. "Are you ok with that?"

"Yeah, it's just one day. And ChanceMan did save my life." Treble held up a text file, to say something without letting Gallo hear. 'Put me in his PET. You have those Emails saved on ours.'

"Alright then! I'll transfer him to your PET for now." Arthur held up his, and Gallo selected a few menu options on his PET. "Oh, and take this. It's Treble's personal chip." He passed ElementBreath to Gallo.

"Thanks. I won't gamble with him." Said Gallo. "Well, I better use the time I got. See ya later."

"See you later." Echoed Arthur.

* * *

"You lent him to Gallo?!" Said William.

"Yes. We both thought it was the right thing to do." Said Arthur.

William shrugged. "If you trust their judgement that much. I just can't really imagine placing my Navi's life in someone else's hands."

"I... am worrying about him. A lot can go wrong in a day." Admitted Arthur. "Oh, but before I forget- I want to try and make an SP chip. Can you help?"

"Probably? It might be a struggle, though. You don't have a normal Navi."

"I guess you're right. But Treble's excited for it, and honestly? He could use something after yesterday. I don't want him to feel down when we go to Wirope."

"...You're not going on vacation, you know. But I agree. I'll give you all the help I can- In fact, I'm free tonight, I'll come over."

"Eurasia should still be cool, even if we ARE going to go and be a target beacon for the officials. And thanks, that means a lot to us."

"No problem. So, It's the last day here for a few weeks. Do you want to go use the netbattle machine or anything?"

"Treble's with Gallo, remember. But I wouldn't mind coming and watching you do a few matches."

"Come on then." William made off for the NetBattle machine, followed by Arthur.

* * *

"Mom, William's with me!" Called Arthur.

"Hello there, William! It's been quite a while, have you grown? That military training certainly hones your body." Gushed Mrs Penn.

William rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's only been a week or two. I can't have grown."

"We'll be upstairs! Oh, and if someone knocks the door at six, let them in!" Yelled Arthur, running up the stairs.

They stepped into Arthur's room. William looked at Arthur's PC. "I'll get the basic framework of an SP chip up."

"Right... Guide me. I'll do my best."

William focused, and started to tap out code. "...I need to go and get my books. I can't remember this off by heart. While I'm gone, can you just go through my bag and find the Treble chip?"

"Sure. Wait, when did you get that?"

"Joe had two."

"Ah."

William walked out, leaving his bag in the room.

Twenty minutes alter, he was back holding a heavy manual titled 'Coding Coverall'. "Here we go. This thing's a hefty book, but it covers just about everything you can think of. You just have to be good at solving problems."

"T-that must weigh half as much as me!"

"It's not that heavy. Anyway, SP chips are covered around 700 pages in..." He opened the huge book, flicking through sections. "Here we are. Oh man, it's even more complicated than NaviCust programs."

"...How long did it take to make BugStop plus, out of interest?"

"About four days. Also three coffees and six energy drinks." Said William. "Okay... you take the book and try to start working out how Treble is coded at his core."

"Ok. Where's the section on bug fusion?"

"There is no section on bug fusion." Answered William automatically. "...I look at this thing a lot."

"Oh. Then..." Arthur looked over the section's guide. "Navi identification... Oh, wait, it's the coding type they use. Okay... I think he uses this one. Number 4."

"Right... I'll handle it from here. In the meantime... why don't you pick out a good background colour for the chip? Otherwise the PET will choose one randomly, and you might get pink."

* * *

"Arthur, someone's here to see you!" Called his mother.

Arthur ran down the stairs. "Hey Gallo." The boy was waiting in the hall.

"Hey Arthur. Thanks for the favor." Said Gallo. "You totally sure you need this Navi back?"

"Yes. How did you two get along?"

"I'll let him tell you." Gallo took out his PET, as did Arthur. The two initiated the transfer, and Gallo handed over the ElementBreath chip.

Treble reappeared in Arthur's PET. "I'm back!"

"Good! What did you get to do today?"

"Mostly busting. I guess Gallo won't be able to do much when he gets his new Navi."

"...Yeah. Well, do you want to stay and have a biscuit, or..?"

"I gotta go." Said Gallo. "Play safe now." He left, closing the door behind him.

"Treble, we started to make the SP chip." Said Arthur. "Want to see-"

"Yes. Yes yes yes." Said Treble.

"Ha, okay." Arthur ran up the stairs. "Alright, time to get this party started!"

William stretched his arms, and popped his fingers. "Alright, jack in and I'll get the code open. I've got the basic layout of this chip nailed, and I have this to make life a bit easier." He held up a CD. "Automatic program for half the stuff in this manual. As long as I feed it the right input, we can probably have the chip done before you go to Eurasia."

"Treble, hunt." Arthur let Treble into the PC. "And... no freaking out when William opens your code."

"Would I do a thing like that?" Said Treble jokingly. "Right, do the thing."

"I'm only going to be looking at your combat data." William opened the code through the Navi repair program. "Uhhh. Right."

"Something wrong?" Said Arthur.

William held a hand to his forehead. "This code is way beyond me. We'd need someone with university-level education to even begin to understand these routines."

"I have an idea." Said Treble. "Why not just... put them in as they are?"

"Are you mad?" Said William. "A chip's storage is 99MB. Routines can be several hundred."

"We only need the claw ones." Said Arthur.

"I'm talking about a single routine..."

"Then let's go about this from the other way. Why not make a bigger chip?" Said Arthur.

"That's... not how it works." Said William "But! You two've given me an idea- If I put these in as they are..." William selected copy for a huge section of Treble's data. The word was greyed out. "Uh, stop blocking the copy."

"Oh, right. Sorry, just a passive thing." Said Treble.

William copy/pasted the combat-routine data into the chip's frame. "Right, 722MB but a LOT is useless. We have to get it as small as we can... and I believe I can turn a lot into zip files..."

"What are those?" Said Arthur.

"Just compressed files. You can expand them when needed. Most Giga chips use them to get under the 99MB limit. The problem is that they're murder on your PET, hence that you can only have one Giga chip. But... if I can get all the data into... I've got it. I think. Okay, fair warning, this chip isn't going to be optimal, but I think the SP program can get it done with enough time."

"How long?"

"Well, let's run it." William put the disc into the computer, and waited as a few boxes loaded. He fed the data he'd written into it. "...Seventy hours."

"Darn, that's not in time for the Eurasia visit..."

"How many do you want to make? You know, it's annoying that data can't be replicated so easily these days. We could all have Sanctuaries."

"Data could be replicated on a large scale?"

"Just about. But many things causing data to get corrupted over time, and the sheer amount of data means you can't safely copy anything too big. Sure, I COULD copy a chip, but the chances I'd make a functional copy are a hundred to one. All it takes is one letter getting corrupted and you've got a useless bit of data. And with a file containing millions of letters, even if the individual chance of a corrupt letter is low, times a million and it will happen. At least we don't have to worry once the program is running or not being moved."

"Huh. I learned something today." Said Arthur. "Well, let's just leave it to run. This thing's going to make an awesome gift."

"Want to have a battle while I'm here?" Said William.

"You're on!" Said Treble. "Get ArsenalMan in here!"

"Hold it." Said Arthur. "Not in the PC while it's running the SP program."

"Yeah, yeah." Said Treble. "But come on, let's go!"

"ArsenalMan, to attention." Said William.

ArsenalMan appeared in the page. "Where should we battle? Do you have any suggestions, allies?"

"What about the Old UnderNet? We should check that BBS too." Said Arthur.

"Yeah, and it's already trashed!" Added Treble. "So I can do whatever I want!"

"...We're not using Vanishing World against anyone we care about." Said Arthur.

"Y-yeah. I wasn't going to..." Said Treble. "Anyway! Transform me, it'll be faster to have ArsenalMan ride me there!"

"Okay. Here you go." Arthur fed the chips into the PET. "See if you can transform without making the blast of force, it's less useful if you're not near an enemy."

Treble shut his eyes. There was a brief flash, and ArsenalMan took a step back.

ArsenalMan considered the force for a moment. "I'd say that was a little weaker. But still forceful."

"...IT'S REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE TO DO THAT." Said GS-Treble. "I THINK I'D PREFER TO JUST LET IT OUT."

"Hey, I just realised." Said Arthur. "This is the first time you've just transformed to get somewhere for fun. No big time limit or overarching threat this time. Maybe you should go exploring."

"You'll cause a panic." Said William. "Make sure we stick to the shadows, ArsenalMan is protected from bugs but if he went through a square then there'd be the virtual equivalent of an epidemic. Uncustomised Navis are terrible at resisting bugs."

"...But he's been seen in the tournament?" Said Arthur.

"He's twice as tall as me and has glowing red eyes. Could you keep your cool if he charged you?" Countered ArsenalMan, climbing onto Treble.

"Fair enough." Admitted Arthur.

"ENOUGH WAITING, HOLD ON TIGHT!" Yelled Treble, setting off at a bound.

"W-woah! C-caref-ful ther-re!" Said ArsenalMan, grasping the center frill as tight as he could, but still getting juggled like a football.

Treble completely ignored him. "I WONDER HOW FAST I CAN RUN?"

"S-sl-low dow-wn!"

Treble did not slow down, picking up speed and starting to almost shake ArsenalMan loose. "YAAHOOO!"

"AAAAHHH!" Shouted ArsenalMan.

"...Should I tell him to slow down a bit?" Said Arthur, watching as he crossed a whole area in a few seconds by almost totally ignoring the walkways.

William raised an eyebrow. "Actually, maybe we should get used to it. It's got to be an efficient way of going from A to B. And he's still holding on."

Treble appeared to have reached peak speed, after a few seconds. ArsenalMan was holding on for dear life. He jumped through the local areas, even though his route was unconventional and far longer than necessary, it was clear this was faster than the normal way. Less than a minute later, he slowed, and eventually cantered up to the entrance to the Old UnderNet.

ArsenalMan jumped off. "I... I'm glad motion sickness can't affect a Navi."

"THAT WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY FUN!" Said Treble. "WE SHOULD DO THAT MORE OFTEN!"

"I'm not coming for a ride unless there's an emergency." Said ArsenalMan. "I mean it!"

"DON'T BE THAT WAY! THINK ABOUT ALL THE CRAZY PLACES I COULD GET TO!"

ArsenalMan looked behind Treble to see a Mr. Prog. "Watch out for the-"

"WHAT?" Treble turned, and accidentally whacked the small green program with his tail. "OH, THAT. OOPS." He reverted to normal.

"Are you okay?" ArsenalMan walked over.

The Mr. Prog made an oddly specific squeaking sound. "Fweeeeeee..."

"I've heard that before somewhere..." Said Arthur.

"It sounds like a balloon deflating when you pull the sides of the neck." Said William. "Why? I'm not sure. But you've bugged it. ArsenalMan, activate his speech-to-text backup."

"Yes sir." ArsenalMan tapped the Mr. Prog's head, and opened a box of options. "Should I flag it for repair?"

"You may as well."

ArsenalMan ticked a couple of boxes. "Done. Watch your surroundings more closely, Treble."

"I- okay. What's the Prog meant to say, anyway?" Said Treble.

"Fweeeeeee." Squeaked the Mr. Prog. 'This is the entrance to the Abandoned Undernet! I warn you that the viruses inside are stronger than here.'

"Oh, is that all? Never mind." Said Treble. "Come on, I used up all my patience waiting to get back!"

"Alright, alright." ArsenalMan entered the Old Undernet, Treble in tow.

The first thing they noticed was someone had fixed the background a bit. The crashed computer blue had been replaced with dark static, and a side pathway rendered inaccessible by vanishing world had a panel shifted in front of it.

"Huh, I never knew this place had someone looking after it." Said Treble. "Do you think Serenade did this?"

"It's likely she's connected. After all, the entrance to her area is over there." Said ArsenalMan.

"Hey, Serenade! We should try and go through her area a bit more!" Said Treble, forgetting the battle with ArsenalMan.

ArsenalMan gave the idea a little thought. "I'm not adverse to exploring that place a little. But we can't stray far from the exit point."

Treble walked over to the dull warp pad. "Alright, send me the cloak!"

"Okay, here you go. Wait, the panel is already active." Said Arthur. True to his word, the previously dark pad had started to glow.

"I suspect it remembers us from the last time." Said ArsenalMan. "Maybe you should send that cloak back before it gets damaged."

"Yeah, ok." Treble returned Bass' cloak to the PET. "Into the secret area!" He jumped onto the warp pad. ArsenalMan calmly stepped on as Treble disappeared.

The secret area was just as clean and soothing as before, even if both knew it was a more dangerous area by far than the last one. "So, want to look around and see if anything's been left on the floor here?" Said Treble. "I could try and sniff for those items."

"I think we could benefit from simply surveying this area a little. We should try and build up a map of this area to work out just where to go. This first square seems safe, so let's see what we can... Treble? What are you doing?"

Treble was wandering towards one of the corners of the entry zone. "I smell something... A virus!"

A Rare BugTank rose from the floor.

Arthur's hand snapped to his chips. "GunDelSol2 in!"

Treble held up the solar contraption, but it didn't fire. "It's not working?!"

"You need to have sunlight on your PET's sensor to complete the program!" Said William. "...also, shout Taiyoh when you hold the PET out the window. Please."

Arthur furiously unlatched the bedroom window and held the PET towards the setting sun. "Taiyoh!"

"...Taiyoh!" Echoed Treble. The GunDelSol2 buzzed with light, and the Rare BugTank started to fry, but then fired a bomb. Treble was forced to stop using the gun and move forwards, but as a melee fighter that was hardly a bother. Three quick slashes and the virus was history. "Not as strong as the MegaMettaur." Commented Treble.

"I don't think that was anything but a regular virus." Said ArsenalMan. "Anyway, look over there. What's that?" He pointed to a glowing gate.

"A gate... let's try and open it! It'll be fun." Said Treble.

ArsenalMan inspected the door. "It's very powerful... I'm not sure if it's even feasible to break it. The floor might give way first."

"Couldn't I just jump over it?"

"If it expands around then you're going ot have a nasty surprise. Let's get it open legitimately... Now, are there any hints?"

'Show your power...' whispered a voice, faintly. 'Defeat three great viruses.'

"Three great viruses?" Said Treble. "Like... the MegaMettaur?"

"I guess there must be others like it in this place. Maybe we can locate them?" Said ArsenalMan.

"Maybe we could _fight_ them? You know you want to..." Said Treble.

"I know _you_ want to." Corrected ArsenalMan. "We nearly went down against a single mettaur with the power of those viruses, so let's get backup."

Arthur sat up. "Actually... I think if we're prepared for them, then we stand a much better chance. What do you say, William?"

"...Proceed with caution. ArsenalMan, stay behind Treble and ensure nothing comes to attack from behind. Treble, if ArsenalMan gives an order, follow it."

"Gotcha." Said Treble. "So, left or right? I think right looks simpler, so let's go there first..." He started exploring, ArsenalMan in tow. The pathways alone were works of art, inlaid with incredibly high-resolution designs, and masterfully programmed to have exactly the same feel and patterning as marble. But neither Navi could appreciate it, because they were on edge.

It was a few steps in they found the first virus. A Rare Boomer appeared from the floor without warning, and tossed a wood-element boomerang at the duo. Treble ducked under it, as ArsenalMan opened fire. The Boomer lacked the evasive skills of a Navi, and was torn to bits. Even if the fight hadn't been difficult, it only put each navi further into the unease as they agreed- all the viruses here were hidden.

Treble stopped. "I smell something... and it's powerful."

"Do you think it's another of the viruses Serenade created to guard this place?" Said ArsenalMan.

"...yes. Should we fight it? I could transform, and you could mount me."

"If it has the mobility to reach me then that's a moot point. Do you think you know what kind of virus it is?" Asked ArsenalMan.

"It smells kind of... familiar. It must be a pretty common virus." Treble took another deep breath. "Swordy. I think it's a Swordy."

Arthur looked to William. "Do you have an AntiSword? We could probably beat it pretty easily if you do, since you could get a stun from an elec chip in safely and then Treble could just blow it up."

William considered his options. "Tactically, I'm not sure about this... we would be open to an ambush, if the virus summoned reinforcements then we'd have no way out."

"Are you factoring in Treble's ability to jump from walkway to walkway while transformed? At the very least, we can retreat safely." Said Arthur.

"You have a point. Alright, ArsenalMan, you can go into the fight, but at no point are you to dismount."

"Clear, sir."

"Sending the advance..." hummed Arthur. "Stand back!"

Treble transformed, but ArsenalMan braced himself preemptively. "GET ON!" He lowered his tail.

ArsenalMan boarded. "Alright, engage the enemy."

Treble stepped forwards, and a golden Swordy appeared. The name tag had already been edited, and identified it as a 'LordSwordy', and aside from the armor of lustrous gold it had a deep purple plume at the top of its head. The cyber sword it carried was a gleaming white.

"I REALLY HAVE TO TALK TO SERENDAE ABOUT GETTING COLORED LIKE THI- YOW!" Treble shouted, as the LordSwordy already closed in and stabbed him in the mouth. Treble kept his jaw firmly shut. This thing was fast and deadly.

ArsenalMan didn't waste any time blasting away with his guns, although the reach the LordSwordy's blade had was immense. More than once he nearly took a hit from a razor sharp arc. It was a delicate rhythm- duck and fire. A tiny mistake would shatter it irreversibly, but while that rhythm was intact, the Navis couldn't lose. Treble could take an absurd amount of punishment if he never attacked or the enemy brought no break-element moves, yet in this fight he little more than an enabler for ArsenalMan. It was a strategy working perfectly to it's most ideal outcome.

The LordSwordy's health dropped slowly but steadily, while Treble weathered blow after blow. But despite the fearsome blade the LordSwordy was using, swinging for at least 200 damage a time, maybe more, against an eighty-percent damage reduction nothing can weaken you quickly. Treble's health was slowly ticking down but for every ten health he lost the LordSwordy lost twenty.

The LordSwordy's health reached 100 and ArsenalMan spoke quickly and with certainty. "Finish it."

"RRAH!" Treble lunged and slashed, and the LordSwordy was sent floating back, dissolving. "...THAT'S FOR STABBING ME WHILE I WAS TALKING!"

ArsenalMan got off Treble and inspected the dissolving LordSwordy. "I have to say, that would have been far harder without someone to take the damage." it finished dissolving, and two items fell to the floor.

"GOLD BUGFRAG!" Yelled Treble. "MINE!"

"Fair enough." ArsenalMan picked up the oddly glamorous BugFrag and tossed it into Treble's mouth. "And there is a battlechip."

"What is it?" Asked William.

"LongBlade *, sir. It seems that these viruses Serenade created drop * coded chips of very powerful moves... although they've been basic chips."

Arthur looked kind of sheepish. "Could... could we have it? I'll trade you. Just, you struggle to use swords and that's a really useful one. I've never known a 'Blade' to come in an * code."

"Sure. What have got?"

"Umm... I've got pretty much anything the local viruses can drop... Oh, I haven't used my ColorPoint in a while. I guess I don't really want to reduce Treble's mobility since he relies on it to stay out of harm in basic form. But since ArsenalMan attacks at range anyway, it's perfect for him."

"Well, it's a trade then. Just let me write the data to a chip..." Said William, putting a blank chip into the PET. He took it out, and breifly looked at the front. "One LongBlade *." He swapped the chip with Arthur.

"Wow. I have to say, I feel like this will be useful."

"I better get home soon. It's getting late. Good luck over at Eurasia."

"Yeah- OH NO!" Yelled Arthur. "I totally forgot to tell the officials about this plan to-"

"We've got you covered." Said William. "Seriously, we all know you're awful when it comes to emailing people. Chaud is up-to-date on this whole plan, and he'll have an elite team of officials on standby for Treble's signature to come near SheepMan's."

"...I owe you big time. I need to call Lan about something too, don't I?"

"Do you? I can't remember anything. But if you can think of anything, then I think now would be a smart time. Bye for now."

"See ya!"

William left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Arthur woke up twenty minutes later than normal, and then went back to sleep.

"Arthur, wake up..." Said Treble. "I'm getting restless in here."

"Right..." Arthur forced himself to open his eyes. "Friday, and school's out."

"You better pack. I don't need spare clothes, but you do!" Said Treble.

"Pack? Oh, right, Euraisa. I might need to wake up first." Arthur pulled himself up, and looked around the room. "Wait... is the computer still running?" He shook the mouse, bringing it out of sleep mode. A blue bar indicated progress on the SP chip was at 23%.

"Wow, that thing is taking ages to make." Commented Treble.

"You know, I never did pick a background colour, but I can see a box here to select it." Said Arthur. "What would look good?"

"What colour's on my basic chip?"

"...I _think_ light green is the default if it's not set up by the navi before."

"Huh. Why light green?"

"No idea. But while we're here, then there's also the EX chip to think about..."

"Let's make EX orange and SP purple." Said Treble confidently.

"Oh? Is there some inspiration behind that?"

"Yeah, lemme explain. Purple has to be the right color for the SP chip, becaue BugFrags are normally purple, and parts of my suit are also purple. We'll make it darker so I don't blend in. And then we have a light-green and a purple chip, which are both made by mixing primary colours, so that leaves orange!"

"I like it. There should be a menu for selecting your EX chip's colour somewhere in the PET."

"...Found it!"

Arthur stretched "Well, I'd better pack."

* * *

In four hours, Arthur was sitting in the back of the family car, looking out the back to see Joe's car. His PET beeped.

'From: Chaud

We've been kept up to date on your plans. Treble has a distinctive signature that makes him easier to track, and by extension allows us to know who he's near. Your objective is simply to stand next to Sheepman for a minute, and then we'll take over. Before you go in, delete any mail you have from us. Good luck and stay safe.'

"I'll delete the mail now." whispered Treble.

"Ok. Nervous?"

"Not really. Just excited. We're going to bring them down and get Trill back."

"With Joe's help. I wonder if we'll be able to battle anyone at the institute?"

"Come on, it's like Wirope's Scilabs! There must be loads of strong Navis there."

"True, true. I bet none are as strong as Bass."

"...Yeah. But we'll get stronger. Soon we'll be able to oppose him."

"Later. For now, let's do this."

"Yeah!"

 **Author's notes: So, next chapter will be in Wirope, all around Eurasia. Hope you're looking forwards to it. Also, the SP chip.** **I fear this chapter is mostly setting up the next fe _w._**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 _ **JANEVALENTINE007:**_ **Glad I could inspire you. Honestly, Capcom is one of the few companies I know that actually like fanworks. They even endorsed one. Oh, I'm sure we'll see more of them in the future too... ;)**

 **Also, your name is staying emboldened like this.**


	17. Chapter 17: Wirope

Arthur's first impression of the airport was-

"Wow, they need to hire a cleaner." Said Mr. Penn, voicing everyone's thoughts.

The airport's windows were grimy and had moss growing around the edges. The walls were covered in graffiti, white paint dirty where it hadn't been sprayed over. It was a relatively small airport, with an airfield large enough to hold maybe four standard commercial planes. Everything about it was dilapadated apart from a control tower that was in nearly perfect condition. The markings on the airfield were also clear even from a distance, suggesting they'd been repainted in the last few months.

The two family cars pulled into a large parking lot, where dozens of others had been parked.

"All out!" Said Mr. Penn jovially. "Make sure you take your personal bags, and Jane, have you got the passports?"

"Right here. Have you got the chargers for our PETs?"

"Right here! Let's go." Mr. Penn stepped out of the car and shut the door, glancing up at the cloudy sky. "Oh, I think it's about to rain..."

"That won't stop the flight. Come on, Joe's already at the doors." Said Arthur, watching his parents lock the car.

Mrs. Penn hefted a white suitcase out of the car. "Micheal, if you get wet out here I'll make you sit alone for the flight!"

"Aha... coming, dear." Said Mr. Penn, walking for the airport.

* * *

Inside was a far cry from the outside. The floors were spotless, the latest ads were displayed on billboards, and the smell of spicy chicken wafted from a common fast food outlet in one corner.

Joe's family was already in the queue for the baggage checks. Joe waved. "Arthur, this way."

"Come on guys!" Said Arthur, dragging his father along. He walked up to Joe. "So, you ready?"

"Of course. Oh, but have you seen the rules here?"

"Huh? No, I just came in."

"Right. You can't take a PET into the passenger's section of an airplane. Also a bunch of other things nobody would do anyway."

Mr. Penn gave a nervous chuckle. "Uhh... about that no containers one... Jane, isn't your perfume one hundred and twenty milliletres?"

Mrs. Penn stopped in her tracks. "No! No no no!"

A security guard walked over. "Is something wrong, ma'am?"

Mrs. Penn composed herself. "Yes." She said firmly. "It's that rule. I have a per- a bottle that I can't do without!"

"Can the liquid within be safely tranferred to a smaller bottle?" Said the guard in well-rehearsed speech.

"...Mmmph." huffed Mrs. Penn. "Yes. But you better not lose the original!"

"I will bring you a 100ml bottle shortly. You will have to surrender the current one to us, and we'll hold it under your name until you return." The guard left.

"Noooo..." Said Mrs. Penn. "It's going to get scratched..."

"What's so special about the bottle?"

"It's super expensive, limited edition." Explained Mr. Penn. "Cheer up Jane, it's not like you'll have to buy a new one. Although I'm sure you could, since we're going to Wirope central."

"...I suppose you're right..."

* * *

"Okay, your passport is in order and we've confirmed your Navi is registered as legitimate. If you pass us your PET, we'll send your Navi into the plane's network and put it in a holding case." Said a uniformed security member, handing back the passport.

"...Be safe, alright?" Said Arthur.

"Like I wouldn't?" Replied Treble, as Arthur passed the PET to the guard.

The guard pointed it to a terminal. "Alright, talk to the Mr. Prog for directions to your flight. Jack in." He pointed it to a port behind the desk, and sent Treble into the network. Then, he took out a sturdy metal case and placed the PET inside, resting on foam in an individual section, of which there were eight. Arthur recognised Joe's PET in the bottom-left corner. The case, now full, was placed on a conveyor.

Arthur walked away, into a waiting area. "I hope our Navis don't get lost. That would be really, really bad after all this."

"Don't jinx it now." Said Joe. "Besides, MathMan is in there too."

"...Fair point. Want to go and see if there's anything in that shop?"

"Sure. But don't blow your allowance on anything you don't really need. They'll have better stuff in Wirope."

* * *

Arthur sat down on his seat in the plane. SheepMan had booked them first-class tickets and it _showed._ Unlike the rows of six that could be seen back in the other section of the plane, first class only had six seats, or rather booths, overall. Each chair was a freshly-cleaned white, with enough room to seat two people. Miniature fridges were set in front of each seat, with wood-tiled walls seperating the three rows. Large televisons were set into the walls, and curtains could be drawn across the side for privacy.

The television flickered on, and Treble came into view. "Arthur! Finally. I missed you!"

"Oh! Treble, hi. Looks like we won't be spending the flight apart after all."

"Yeah. There's a load of things in here for entertainment... Wow, I never expected an airplane would have even half as much choice! Arthur, check that fridge!"

Arthur pulled the door open. "What..." Inside were at least ten different glass bottles. Arthur picked the foremost one out of the small container. "...'Premium orange juice'. They put the _orange juice_ into a bottle that looks like it cost as much as a plane ticket?!" The bottle had elaborate curvature and a professional design, featuring oranges framed with gold leaves.

"SheepMan didn't joke around when he booked this thing." Said Treble.

An attendant walked along the isle. "All first-class passengers, we offer a complimentary bag for the flight. However, before it is given, we ask you buckle your seatbelts and refrain from opening drinks, as we are about to take off. When we've stopped rising, we will make an intercom announcement, and I will return with your complimentary bags." The attendant left as a green light with a seatbelt came on.

Arthur clipped in. "I could get used to this..."

There was a rumble as the plane started to pick up speed. After a few seconds, Arthur felt a pull as the plane lifted off, into the sky. He gazed out of the window for a brief view of the rainy day below, before the plane hit the clouds and vision was simply grey. But then a second later, the plane broke through and the tops of the clouds were revealed, against a clear sky.

"Huh?!" Said Treble. "I... didn't expect it would be sunny up here!"

"It makes sense when you think about it. The rain won't fall upwards. How can you see it, though?" Said Arthur.

"The first class area has a camera on the outside for us to look through! It's really high powered, the zoom on this is like a telescope!"

"...SheepMan didn't joke around when he booked this thing." Echoed Arthur, impressed.

There was a ding as the seatbelt light came off. The attendant entered the room again, pushing a trolley with six boxes, two red and four blue. At each row, she passed two out to the adjacent passengers. It was apparently a blue box if youe were an adult, red if not. The attendant reached Arthur and passed him a box, before carrying on. Arthur pulled the top off.

"What's inside?!" Said Treble, excitement brimming in his voice.

Arthur looked over the box. "I can see a book, a blanket..." He lifted out the blanket. "A couple of boxes of snacks... and- are these battlechips?!" He lifted out a cellophane encased pack of five chips- five chips that appeared to be chrome-plated. "Hm, they're blank chips. I guess we could write whatever we want to them. Oh! There's another chip underneath them..? A very shiny M-Cannon!" He said happily. "Man, it's like a miniature birthday."

Joe gave a happy call. "Arthur, there are battlechips in these gift boxes! I got an M-Boomerang, what about you?"

"M-Cannon!"

"Awesome!"

Arthur sat back down, and found a small note card at the bottom. "Courtesy of SheepMan. EXE."

Treble laughed. "Now that's what I call first class! Shame there are no viruses in here. So, shall we boot up one of these games? It's a long flight to Wirope!"

"Okay, but I want to try that orange juice!" Arthur looked into the box to see a bottle opener, and twisted the metal cap off. He carefully took a sip from the gilded bottle. "Woah."

"Good 'woah' or bad 'woah'?"

"I'm just going to say, that however good a BugFrag tastes to you, this is better. I'm not good at going all poetic, but... it's like drinkable perfection."

"That good?"

"Yeah... Well, let's start a game."

* * *

Almost ten hours later, Arthur was lying back in the seat covered by the blanket, observing the twelve empty bottles in front of him. "I'd say... Mango and Passion fruit was the best, then Blackberry and Raspberry..."

Treble was fidgeting inside the computer. "Bored. So bored! I want to run somewhere! Anywhere! Or fight someone, preferably tough! Like _Gregar_ tough!"

"We'll be there soon, we went inland a while ago." Said Arthur.

The seatbelt light dinged.

"Finally!" Said Treble.

"Aw, don't be that way! We're not likely to have another trip like this for a long time!"

"...But I'm just so bored!"

* * *

Another twenty minutes and Arthur was stepping off the plane, hand luggage in tow. He took his first good look at Wirope.

"You know... I can't put my finger on it but something feels different here." Said Mr. Penn.

Arthur looked over the skyline of Wirope central, visible behind the airport. "I guess it must be the architecture." He walked down the steps across the airfield. It didn't take long to reach the check-in.

"Sir, please present your passport." Asked a guard in a new uniform, a smart dark green.

Arthur passed him the tiny booklet.

The guard scanned it with a machine, and then reached to his side and took out a familiar metal case. He pressed a button and spoke into a microphone. "Now calling Treble to the exit." Before pointing the PET to a port behind his desk. There was a small sound a Treble returned to the PET. "Have a good day sir." Said the guard, passing back the PET and the passport.

"Treble! Welcome back!" Said Arthur, walking off as the guard called for the next passenger.

"At last, back in the PET! Normally I don't enjoy being cooped up, but ANYTHING is better than that airplane computer! Ten hours in one spot..." Said Treble.

"Well, we better catch up to the others, they're already through." Said Arthur. "I don't want to get stranded."

"Eh, you've got me if you get lost!"

"Haha, true." Arthur stuffed the PET into his pocket and took off at a jog, after the others. He glanced around, admiring the hall he was jogging through. Dark marble formed a domed ceiling, while in contrast the floor was a pristine grey carpet. Large paintings were hung from the walls, making it resemble a museum more than an airport. Arthur jogged out of the doors, to see a row of taxis. Joe's dad was standing by one, waving.

"Arthur, this way!" He called.

"Coming!"

* * *

The car trip took a few minutes, but then it pulled up in front of the biggest hotel any of the six had ever seen. It was like a fortress of modern comforts, a towering bastion of holidaymaking.

In perfect unison, Arthur and Treble whispered. "SheepMan didn't joke around."

Stepping into the lobby was like entering another world. While outside the pavement had been damp and grey from recent rain, and the sky orange with the setting sun, in here everything was a clean crisp white. A positively enormous screen adorned the wall above the reception desk, displaying a 'Welcome to the Cloud hotel!' message. The four parents were already discussing their rooms with the front desk.

Mrs. Penn returned to Arthur holding a key. "Come on, the rooms are sorted by family!"

"I'll come find you once we're unpacked Joe!" Said Arthur, following his mother into a side corridor. It seemed everything about the hotel was supersized, a large elevator facing the outside world with a glass side welcoming the family. As soon as Arthur pulled in his suitcase, the doors slid shut silently, and the elevator rose smoothly and quickly, giving them a wonderful view of the city. One building in particular stood out, a huge place that bordered on a work of art. Stone columns were inlaid with stylish grooves and carved animals visible at even this distance, and at the front a giant battlechip presented itself.

"Look son, there's the Eurasia institute!" Said Mr. Penn.

"What a beautiful building." Commented Mrs. Penn. "I can't believe we won this tour! I just hope I get a chance to check out the city..."

"We could go and check the local area tonight." Said Mr. Penn. "I wonder if the restaurants here serve anything we wouldn't normally get to try?"

Arthur frowned for a second. _She's right, it IS a beautiful building. It's a shame that some of the people inside are so evil._ He shook himself out of thought to add to the conversation. "I actually looked into it a bit. This city is famous for it's steak restaurant near here."

"Then it looks like we're having steak for dinner!" Said Mr. Penn jovially. "After we see our room, of course."

There was a pleasant chime as the elevator stopped, near the top of the hotel. The height alone was staggering. The door slid open, revealing a red carpet into a corridor with only four visible doors. All three of the family walked along until they came to a room.

"Floor 20, room 2." Said Mrs Penn, sliding the keycard into the lock. "Ohh, I'm so excited!" The door swung open smoothly.

Inside was a room that had quite possibly hit the limit for 'extravagent'. A spacious area was presented, with a giant four poster, God-emperor size bed with a gold and red satin sheet making up the first layer of the blankety bedrock. A PC with a mahogany frame adorned with what was possibly actual gold rested across, in it's own alcove. Two doors opened off to the side in different places, and a third onto a balcony where a small pool could be seen. Arthur had to take a second to process that. An actual private swimming pool. How much money had SheepMan even put into this visit?! He refocused and went to check one of the two doors on the side. It opened into another bedroom, with a somewhat smaller bed that could have probably fit three people compared to the other one's five. A bedside table with a lamp that seemed to be literally made of golden coins rested next to the bed. The other room was probably a bathroom.

"Ahhh! What a room!" Said Mrs Penn. "Look at this bed!"

"Haha, I bet even you can't steal all these sheets in your sleep!" Said Mr Penn. "Let's get unpacked, then we'll meet up with the others and go for dinner."

* * *

One large slice of seasoned steak later, Arthur was sitting in the bed, full.

"That steak... It never seemed to end..." He said.

"Are you still good to battle?! C'mon, I'm going crazy in here!" reminded Treble.

"Y-yeah. Just got to... move... slowly." Arthur sat up. He noticed a panel in the wall. "Huh?" He carefully pressed it, and it flipped, revealing a screen, and then swung outwards. Arthur took out look and said "Jack-in port. Aw yes. I don't have to move."

"Send me innnnnn!"

"Treble, hunt!"

"At last!" Treble appeared inside a small area. "Wow, I've got my own personal page here too. It goes straight to the lobby..." He stepped onto a link pad, completely ignoring the room, and finding himself in the online equivalent of the hotel's lobby. MathMan entered just a few seconds later.

"Going exploring?" He said.

"Of course! I want to find a good virus to delete." Said Treble.

"Then we'll go together." Said MathMan. "Lead on."

Treble sprinted off. "Just stretching my legs! Keep up!"

"I can't run as fast as you..." Said MathMan, trying his best not to fall far behind. Treble hit the link to the Wirope net, and got a first look at the Wirope net.

Most strikingly, the setout was less of a traditional maze with one main path and more of a series of wide corridors with mini mazes encapsulated. The background flew in green, with a pattern of crisscross lines. Treble stopped to wait for MathMan, and the Navi ran up behind him after a moment.

"Wow... I bet there are viruses and chips we haven't seen before here!" Said Treble.

MathMan nodded. "Let's see... viruses or shopping first? I feel shopping would be a good idea, since we can take our chips and use them on the viruses."

"No, I have to fight something now! Anything!" Said Treble. "Hey, is that a virus over there? Yeah, it is!" Treble ran towards the Batty virus. It reacted far too slowly to the Navi hurtling towards it with weapons primed, and was slashed out of the air in one hit. "...Are all the viruses in Wirope like this?"

MathMan shook his head. "Most viruses can be found worldwide. It's only chips that were designed by people that tend to only be found in one country."

"Oh. Well I'll just have to go and find a Navi to fight."

"We'll go to the chip shop to find one. This is the country's capital, so it should have good stock."

"Ok!"

It was only a short walk to the online shop, where a few Navis were milling around. MathMan slid up to the counter. "Good Evening."

The clerk smiled "Welcome to the central shop, for all your battlechip needs. What are you looking for today?"

"Do you have any chips that can only be found in this country? We're on vacation." Said MathMan.

"Yessir! We have AbsorbShield, UnifyCode, BlessedLight, Excal... wait, Excalibur is out of stock. And also BugAura!"

"Oooh. What do they do?" Said Treble.

"AbsorbShield is a variant of most reflector or guard type chips. If the shield blocks an attack, it will convert into a healing pulse for you. UnifyCode causes all chips loaded before it to count as * coded, BlessedLight prevents the caster from status effects like paralysis for a short while, and BugAura is a defensive aura with a basic cap of 50 that gains power up to 250 if used by a bugged Navi. BlessedLight and Excalibur are holy, BugAura is Evil." Explained the clerk. "All five are Mega class."

Arthur smiled. "Well, we have just enough money for one, so it's a no-brainer which one we get."

Treble looked to MathMan, waiting for him to buy something and let him to the counter. "What are you going to get?"

"I have enough money for two, and could maybe reach three if I found a little more. Wow, they're so expensive..." Said MathMan. "But I don't have any problems with code, so either BlessedLight or AbsorbShield. The thing is, William could make good use of UnifyCode."

"What if we pooled our leftover money?" Suggested Treble.

"Yes, that should work. We have just enough for those four. Perhaps no Excalibur, but four of five Wiropean chips is pretty good. It'll give us a brilliant surprise edge in combat back home."

"You navis are honestly quite lucky to have come today. We always sell out all five of these the day we restock, although Excalibur tends to be gone within the hour. That comes to 50,000 zenny."

Treble passed his money to MathMan. He giggled. "We've been here half an hour and we've blown all our savings."

"...y-yes, we have." Said MathMan, recieving the chips. "But if we hadn't, then I doubt we'd get the chance to obtain these chips again for a long, long time."

Treble took the BugAura. "Okay, write it to a chip!" He sent it to Arthur.

Arthur put in one of the blank chips from the plane. A loading bar appeared as BugAura was written to the chip. "Pretty good. It's a shame you can only use four megachips in a fight."

"Yeah, but I only have four I can use here anyway. MathManEX, ArsenalMan, ChillMan and BugAura. SolarMan and PumpMan would blow our cover."

"BugAura's going to be totally overpowered on you." Said Arthur.

"You got that right! Wait... what code is it anyway? I hope it's B, most of our basic chips are B or S."

Arthur looked at the freshly written chip. "Y. That one letter that I've seen on literally one other chip. Recover10."

"Well, that's not gonna stop me using it!"

"True, although I guess I'll have to be careful with NorthWind now."

"Anyway, let's go find someone to fight." Said Treble.

The clerk raised a hand. "If you're looking for a netbattle, try next door! Navis looking for fights tend to wait around there."

Treble's face lit up. "MathMan, we're going next door!"

"I haven't finished writing those chips out!" Warned MathMan.

"Just catch up with me!" Said Treble, running out of the room. There was only one adjacent place, a large blue square with a customised navi in the centre blasting music while a few others listened. Treble all but skidded round the corner running in. "Alright, I came here to fight!" He announced.

The few regular navis stood aside. The custom navi turned his music down to the point Treble could make out the lyrics.

 _'Gas, Gas, Gas! I'm gonna step on the gas, tonight, I'll try to be the winner! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I'll be so quick as a flash...'_

The customised Navi looked at Treble through a black visor akin to a motorcylce helmet. Two thin wheels floated either side of him, while his suit convincingly resembled a biker's jacket. A pair of eyes lit up on the visor, like a LED screen. "Is someone here finally bold enough to challenge NitroMan, speedster of the streets and master of Wirobeat?"

"Yes!" Said Treble confidently.

"Now that's the answer I was looking for! Ralph, hold my music box!" He picked up the small but loud program, and tossed it to one of the bystanders. "And clear the track!" They all backed off.

Arthur reached into his back and pulled out his chip pack, opening it in preparation. "Treble, destroy!"

NitroMan had started at a decent distance from Treble, and that was what allowed him to actually get started for the fight. The two wheels flew to the floor at his front and back, and a shiny silver motorcycle materialised, revving. It shot off towards Treble, a cone of force surrounding the front.

"Jump." Said Arthur with certainty.

Treble sprang off the floor before he could get hit by the bike, leaping clear over NitroMan.

"Okay, BugAura and LongBlade in!" Arthur couldn't help but feel smug remembering the LongBlade was * coded.

The deep red sword materialised on Treble's arm and a gray aura sprung to life. A '250' was visible at the bottom. Treble ran towards NitroMan, ready to cut.

"An Aura? It won't take my attack!" Said NitroMan. The bike disappeared, and the wheels returned to NitroMan's sides. They each spun, hovering in the air, and then dropped to the floor, racing for Treble and leaving a trail of flames behind them.

 _Eh, a 250 Aura can totally stop that! I'll keep charging!_

While one could have easily been dodged, both hit at the exact same time for 125 damage, causing the Aura to flicker and die. Treble closed in regardless and cut solidly with the LongBlade, causing NitroMan to flinch.

"Oh yeah? It's time to ac-cel-er-ATE!" Yelled NitroMan, recalling the wheels and forming his bike again. It shot off without a moment's pause, NitroMan pulling out a WideSword of his own. He revved past Treble and did a sharp turn, leaving a skid mark, before drivng staright for him with sword outstretched.

"Thunder, and ElementBreath in!"

Treble tensed, and readied the Thunder as NitroMan rushed towards him. At the last possible second, he threw the ball of lightning at the bike. There was a sound best described as '!', before a bolt of lightning crashed from the sky onto Treble.

"What the- AntiElec?!" Said Arthur.

Treble was paralysed for a second as NitroMan ran him down with the bike and sword, after just those three attacks he was down to around 400 health. He picke himself up and refocused. An 'Anti' chip only works once... NitroMan skidded around to make another charging cut, and Treble timed his breath as best he could. Aqua flames engulfed NitroMan, causing his charge to miss, but he leapt from the bike with wheels already priming.

"Burning rubber!" He yelled.

Treble dived to one side and lunged with his claws, but NitroMan was out of range.

Arthur looked at his chips. "VariableSword in, Left B Right B."

The shifting, ethereal blade appeared, SonicBoom primed. Treble got ready for NitroMan to make a move, grinning. He watched closely, and saw NitroMan start to reform his bike. He launched the SonicBoom, and started running forwards, but the bike didn't reform. A car formed, with an eighties design and a black-white paintjob. Lights had flipped up from the front rather than being built into the front like a modern car. The SonicBoom hit the front, doind some damage to the virtual frame, but unlike a real car, it was apparently very resistant to damage. There was brief crackled and revving sound, then music started to play VERY loudly.

 **'DO YOU LIKE MY CAR?'** Blared the vehicle.

Treble was forced to dive to the side as the vehicle blazed past. NitroMan could be heard yelling from within. "AE86! Ready for MAXIMUM GEARSHIFTING AND REVS!"

 **'GAS! GAS! GAS!'** Exuded the stereo, before it launched into an intense instrumental. The car drifted around at absurd speed leaving flmaing tracks behind it, Treble readying himself for NitroMan's next run.

Arthur considered his options. "That car resists damage... so we need a Break chip!" He rifled through his pack, and triumphantly came out with an AirHockey. "Thank-you-Ember! AirHockey in!"

A puck appeared in Treble's hand. NitroMan slammed the brakes, but it was too late. The puck seemed to enlarge as it left Treble's hand, and bounced off an invisible wall before punching a hole right through the car, causing it to dissolve. NitroMan was thrown to the floor, momentum grinding his face in. He got up shakily. "I concede. You're too strong!"

Treble sighed happily. "Good enough of a fight. Oh, MathMan! Did you see the whole thing?"

"Most of it. Perhaps there's an opponent for me here too?" Said MathMan, looking out into the crowd. A few Navis stepped forwards.

Treble spoke to Arthur. "Did you get his Navi chip?"

"Yeah, NitroMan N. I guess we could use that instead of one of our current mega chips. Maybe ChillMan."

"Why not?" Said Treble. "Oh, NitroMan. Good fight."

The white-suited navi stood in front of him. "Now I have to say, you're pretty speedy! Want to dance? You seem like the kind of guy who'd appreciate a good Wirobeat song."

"Yeah that sounds awesome!" Said Treble, bouncing on the spot.

"Ralph!" Called NitroMan, and raised a hand to catch the music box. "Alright, how good do you freestyle dance? You can go buy a NaviCust program for it from the chip shop, but I say the best dancing is learned from scratch."

"I don't have a navicust and I've never tried dancing, so..."

"Just do whatever feels right!" Said NitroMan. "Here, you can pick the song. I've got Gas Gas Gas, Deja Vu, Beat of the Rising Sun... It's all racing music, but you can certainly dance to it! Cindy over there can probably find a tune for anyone though." He pointed a thumb to a pink Navi.

 _Hey, I get Deja Vu sometimes._ "Deja Vu sounds cool! So, are you going to just dance as well?"

"I'll consider totally blowing you away with my style payback for the battle." Said NitroMan semi-seriously. "No chickening out!"

"I never do!" Said Treble.

NitroMan clicked a few options on his box. "Then it's a dance-off."

A few gentle electric guitar tones started to play, as NitroMan started to moonwalk. Treble suddenly realised he'd picked a battle he was _completely_ outclassed in. The music suddenly shifted to fast-paced electronic rock, and NitroMan started quickly pulling off almost perfectly beat-synchronised moves that still seemed to be totally original.

Never one to accept defeat, Treble tried to make up some moves on the spot, but trying to just wave your hands around a bit and shake yourself to the beat was several orders of magnitude below NitroMan on the dancing scale.

All too soon, the song was over. NitroMan laughed a bit. "You tried! You didn't chicken out, and I'll give you that, but you got NOTHING on the master!"

Treble shrugged. "Gimme another song! I'll just have to get good!"

"Uh, I need to sleep..." Said Arthur.

"I'll log myself out when I'm done!" Said Treble.

"Okay, night then." Said Arthur.

NitroMan smirked under his helmet. "Now then... Show me what you got this time, right!"

* * *

Arthur woke up to see Treble in the PET. "Hey..." He yawned. "Did you ever manage to out-dance that guy?"

"Nope! But I'm a bit better at dancing now. I wonder if it'll help me dodge in fights..."

Arthur considered it. "Well, maybe? I guess it can't hurt... Anyway! Eurasia can't wait!"

"YEAH!" Said Treble.

Arthur whipped his day clothes on, smart casual, and entered the main bedroom. "Everyone ready to go?"

"Breakfast first, son." Reminded his father.

"...oh yeah."

"And then it's off to the institute!" He followed up.

"Oh, Yeah!"

 **Author's notes: You know, I really enjoyed writing the luxurious section of this chapter. Perhaps not too action-filled, but I'll remedy that soon enough!**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 _ **JANEVALENTINE007:**_ **I hope this one keeps** **that excitement going, because it's about to go down at Eurasia! You've earned your standout nametag. And having seen your OC designs, I can say I approve!  
**

 ** **GuestEX: Honestly, that chain of thought ended at someone throwing a few pieces of Rush Food into a chasm, and then suddenly a program comparable to a cybeast leaps out of nowhere to bridge the gap.****


	18. Chapter 18: Officially

Arthur stood outside the institute as the taxi behind him rolled away. It was a grand building that blotted out the early morning sun with ease. At the approach of the two families, the pair of heavy oak doors automatically slid to the side on well-oiled motors, revealing the lobby. Arthur and Joe stepped in. The room was likely beautiful, but Arthur couldn't focus on it. This was Eurasia. If they knew what he'd done, what he was about to do...

Joe tapped him on the shoulder. "Relax." He said.

Arthur realised he was tense, and loosened his muscles a little. "Right..." He took a deep breath and walked forwards.

The room was less beautiful than expected, now that Arthur was a little relaxed. It favored a more minimalistic style, with walls in beige and polished, perfectly-joined floorboards. A front desk was on the left, and Joe's mother walked over. "We're here for our tour."

"Very well..." Said the attendant. "If you'd just present your PETs?"

Arthur slipped Treble out of his pocket, and gave him a quick look. Treble flashed a thumbs-up. "Here you go."

He passed the attendant the PET, along with the others. She quickly checked each one. "All is in order." She pressed a button and spoke into a microphone. "VIP guests have arrived. Now activating prototype bot 02."

A panel in the wall behind her opened to reveal what Arthur assumed was some kind of robot. It was roughly human sized, and had plastic beige plating covering most of the machine. "Is that some kind of robotic tour guide?" He said, trying to be interested rather than panicky.

"This is a Copy Bot." Said the attendant. "We played a significant role in their development, as a multinational project. Cyber City in Electopia was responsible for much of the programming and the initial blueprints, but we of Wirope took the idea to reality. We were able to make our force-field tech refined enough to replicate complex shapes, and we were able to design a battery capable of sustaining a large force field for up to twenty minutes. These bots are tough to produce and still have much to be improved even after years of research, but using one a Navi can appear in the real world. Although, we have prevented simulation of weapons. Risks aside, they would expend the battery fast enough to possibly destroy the bot."

"So a Navi will be giving us the tour?" Said Joe.

"Correct. First, you can take these back..." Said the attendant, giving Arthur back his PET. "And now, meet your guide for the tour."

The Copy bot whirred, and made a few electronic sounds. After a few seconds, it rippled as a forcefield was generated and coloured. Arthur watched as the torso was covered with a wool overcoat, the legs and arms were covered with something like black silk, and a familiar face appeared over the head.

"Hello there darlings, SheepMan at your service!" Said the inhabitant of the Copy bot.

"It's good to meet you." Said Joe.

"Likewise! Now, the battery is rather limited, so I'll take you to our lab!" Said SheepMan. "Come along!"

"Of course!" Said Arthur, as they followed the Navi.

SheepMan pushed through a few doors, giving some notes on the history of the lab. Arthur learned it was much older than you might expect a technological foundation to be, dating back to a royal command almost five hundred years ago to research chemistry that had since evolved to computer research. They traversed a corridor before reaching a T-junction.

"Now, darlings. On the left is the workshop, where we research robotics and continue the chemistry research we've been running since our founding. The right are our computer labs, where we push the limits of coding. I have enough battery to take you to one, and then another guide will take over the tour. So, where do you wish to see first?"

"Computer labs." Said Joe.

"Agreed." Said Arthur.

"Right then, follow me!" Said SheepMan.

* * *

The computer labs took up an entire two floors. Of the building's six, the ground floor was apparently a canteen, the second and third robotics labs, fourth and fifth computers, and sixth administration and PR offices. SheepMan opened the door to a room labeled 'CompLab1'.

"Our guests are here." He called.

A man with thin, regal grey hair in a pinstripe suit walked up, with a gold pin on the lapel. "Ah, good to meet you six. I am Morgan, director of the computer labs. And this is my Navi, Serges."

A nearby screen lit up, displaying a Navi who was mostly covered by an immaculate black cloak, with a cog holding the top two corners together. What Arthur could see of his torso was grey metal with many square holes in which clockwork was visible. His face was that of a craftsman, white with black stubble, and some of Wirope's trademark hair animated around the sides, but the top was covered by a tophat, the rim indented like a gear. "Greetings. There is a connection port to my left, if you wish to send in your Navis for the tour. We have a lot to show off." Serges smiled.

"Hey, like that new repair program? It looked really interesting from the teaser you posted." Said Arthur, sending Treble into the network.

"Ah, the Life shower?" Said Serges. "That's actually in development just a few metres away from us! A large focus of our institute in recent years has been development of more realistic programs for Navis to use."

"And I can _personally_ vouch that we've replicated a warm shower." Said Morgan. "In fact... since the whole point of your visit is for us to show off, perhaps one of your navis would like to try it?"

Arthur whispered into the PET. "Don't, you'll bug it."

MathMan rasied a hand. "I'm interested."

Serges nodded. "Excellent. I would also wish to demonstrate it's healing properties... if you don't mind taking a point of damage?"

"Do your worst." Said MathMan calmly.

Serges frowned. "SheepMan, come in here. It wouldn't do to inflict more than superficial damage."

SheepMan disappeared from the physical world, reappearing in the computer. He produced a small black buster on his hand. "Don't worry, it's mostly for show. I'm no combat navi, darling." He fired it once, with a 'ping' sound. The attack hit MathMan in the arm.

"...that smarts a little." Said MathMan. "So, the shower?"

"Step right in!" Said Serges, clapping his hands. A few Mr Progs rushed over carrying the shower, a simple white basin with a nozzle over the top.

MathMan calmly stepped in, and water automatically flowed from the nozzle, covering him. "Hm!" He smiled. "Wow, I envy you guys if you can have these on demand."

"Now, check your wound!" Instructed Serges.

MathMan stepped out of the shower. "It's been repaired. Marvelous."

"Wow!" Said Treble. "What else is there here?!"

Serges gestured to another area. "If you'll follow me?"

* * *

About an hour later, they'd covered the whole floor. Morgan looked over the guests. "Now, this floor was for developing luxuries, and pursuit of realism. But we are now going to visit the second floor, one more suited to our young netbattlers here: The battle floor, where we develop new chips and Navis. Are you both prepared for combat?"

"Ready." Said Arthur.

" _Always_ ready!" Said Treble.

They followed Morgan up the stairs to the next floor. Unlike the one below, this one had workstations all around the edge, and in the center...

"A netbattle machine." Said Arthur.

"Not just any netbattle machine! This is linked to our network, and we use it to test everything we make. So... would you like to give some of our Navis a test?" Said Morgan.

"Of course. We'd have to be crazy to miss this chance." Said Joe.

Morgan pointed his PET to a nearby computer. "Serges, find Crescendo and bring him here. Now... who'd like to fight first?"

"Me! Me! pick me!" Said Treble.

"Looks like we have a volunteer!" Said Morgan. "Send your navi in and prepare for combat."

"Treble, hunt!" Said Arthur, taking his chips out of his pockets.

Treble appeared in the netbattle machine. Waiting were Serges and another Navi in white, simple armor. They had no defining features apart from a navi mark in the centre of their chest, a light grey with a white line through the middle, and a simple white cape that covered his shoulders and back. Serges spoke. "This is Crescendo, our latest and hopefully greatest combat Navi. He possesses an experimental power: That of absolute deletion. You see, you may know that when sufficiently powerful programs are deleted, they can quite literally raise themselves from the dead. And that's a problem, since it means they'll always be a threat to the net. But with Crescendo, then the days of immortals are at an end- they'll be deletable like the rest of us."

Crescendo stepped forwards and gave a small bow. "But... I'm new to fighting. I've got a long way to go before I'm ready to be shown to the public, and longer still before I'm ready to go after the programs I'm meant to." He formed a buster on his arm. "But by the powers I've been given, I won't fail in my task."

Treble recognised something about 'Crescendo' immediately. _Trill._ "I'm Treble... maybe we could talk later, but for now... consider this the best practice you're going to get!"

Morgan observed the interaction. "Alright, Crescendo. Begin writing battle routines!"

"E-execute!" Said 'Crescendo'.

Crescendo raised his buster and fired a few shots at Treble. It wasn't a bad buster by any means, but Crescendo's aim was very far from good. Treble easily dodged the shot, closing in rapidly.

Morgan frowned. "Sword, battlechip in."

A simple sword appeared on Crescendo's arm, and Crescendo held it forwards. As Treble closed in, he swung it, but Treble parried with one claw and slashed with the other. Crescendo was knocked back, falling over.

"..." Said Treble, looking at him. "You don't really seem to know what you're doing."

Crescendo climbed to his feet. "Forgive me, everyone. I'm too weak."

"No, I mean it's like I'm the first thing you've ever fought!" Said Treble. "You should at least go for some viruses first to get a feel for your abilities!"

"...I can't." Said Crescendo.

Serges stepped forwards. "Worry not. Truthfully, it was our mistake, pitting you against an accomplished fighter as your first battle. For now, return to your page and have that cut repaired."

"Yes, sir." Crescendo left.

"Now then... perhaps someone like you could use a stronger foe?" Said Serges. "StrikeMan, to me!"

A new navi entered the room. They carried a bat in one hand and what appeared to be a serving machine on the other. "Batter up." He said.

"Oh, now this looks like a better fight!" Said Treble excitedly.

Morgan entered a few commands. "Okay, switching operation to StrikeMan. StrikeMan, battle routines set."

"Execute!"

"Treble, destroy!" Said Arthur.

StrikeMan raised the serving machine, and spat out a few baseballs at high speed. Treble dodged the first few, but te last one bounced off him hard.

"AreaSteal, LongBlade in!"

"Hmm... HiBoomerang, battlechip in!" Said Morgan.

A blue boomerang appeared in StrikeMan's hand, but before he could throw it Treble warped in close, the red glow of the LongBlade matching his eyes for a brief moment before he cut with it. StrikeMan didn't flinch at all, and made a powerful swing with his bat. "Home-run!" said StrikeMan firmly.

Treble didn't take much damage, but he was launched like he was standing on a catapult. "Woahhhh!" He landed on his feet to see the HiBoomerang hurtling towards him. He moved forwards to dodge, but it still caught him on the back.

"MathMan EX, Navichip in!"

"Cannon, triple download. Program advance, Giga Cannon."

A ghostly copy of MathMan appeared, and while Treble wasn't looking at it too hard, Arthur noticed it seemed... just a little more real than a regular MathMan copy. It walked forwards calmly, in contrast to Treble's wild approach. StrikeMan tried to keep them at bay, but he couldn't effectively split his firepower. Treble made an opening by attacking his bat arm, and then MathMan's copy delivered a devastating blow that would have pierced the guard anyway. Nonetheless, StrikeMan's arm started to bug. He raised the Giga cannon, and despite Treble's best efforts, blasted him at close range. "A true professional doesn't miss!"

"Ha... haha!" Laughed Treble, despite the damage from the advance. "Give me more! Fight harder!"

"ElementBreath, VariableSword in! Left, Down, Right!" Said Arthur.

Treble had no trouble closing in and torching StrikeMan with fire breath, but StrikeMan's resistance to flinching made him wary enough not to swing the VariableSword immeadiately- a decision that paid off big time as the bat sailed harmlessly over his head, leaving StrikeMan completely open. One good cut ended it.

StrikeMan stumbled back, flashing. "I'm out."

Morgan wrote some notes down. "Looks like we need to work on your weapon speed a little before you're ready. Now, maybe you should give your friend a turn?" He said to Arthur.

"All yours, Joe." Said Arthur.

"MathMan, jack in."

* * *

They spent a long time fighting the Euraisa prototype Navis. Most were realtively easy, lacking in certain attributes or having a critical flaw that had yet to be workerd out, but they all out up a decent fight. Eventually, Morgan looked at his watch. "Oh, goodness!" He exclaimed. "It's two O' clock and we haven't had lunch yet."

"I was getting a bit hungry." commented Arthur.

Morgan stood upright. "Your Navis can explore the network while we eat, if you wish. Come on, they serve some wonderful quiche on sundays."

"Treble? Do you want to stay? Maybe you could talk with SheepMan or Crescendo?" Said Arthur.

"Sure!"

"Okay, see you soon." Said Arthur, leaving the room.

In the network, Treble looked around. "Hey, Serges. Which one of us beat the most navis then?"

"We split the battles equally. I have some business to attend to, so I trust SheepMan will keep you out of trouble." Serges disappeared.

SheepMan stood up from the corner. "I say! You might not be the most civilised, but you're a first-class fighter."

"Aw, thanks!" Said Treble brightly. "Hey, I have a question though."

"Go on."

"I've been looking for a buster recently... but I don't really know where to go for one."

"Mmm... I have an idea, dearest. Come with me." Said SheepMan. He left the server, Treble following him. They went through a few pages before entering one. Treble recognised a chair as the one SheepMan had always sat in when he was messaging him.

"Hey, is this your homepage?" Said Treble.

"Yes..." Said SheepMan quietly. "I... I want to ask something, Treble."

"Are you okay?"

"I... I don't have many friends. Especially since PumpMan was deleted. I-I want to know what his last words were. I don't think we'll ever be able to retrieve his ghost."

"..." Treble looked down. _I can't remember..._ "I... I don't know, but the last thing he said to me... was 'run'."

"I see." SheepMan looked down. "I miss him. You see... I wasn't meant to be like this. So pathetic. I was meant to be a combat Navi, RamMan. But when I was being designed, one miscommunication sent that whole idea sideways, and I was worked into... this." SheepMan gestured to his weak armor. "I only had PumpMan as a friend, most Navis ridculed me. No matter how I helped, how much money I earned..."

"I'm your friend." The words jumped out of Treble's mouth before he could stop them. The second they did, he could feel a crushing guilt. _I deleted his only friend, and now I'm saying I'm his friend... but by being here, I've already doomed him. ProtoMan will already have a lock on-_

"Really?" Said SheepMan, carefully. "As... more than just a walking bank? More than an enabler?"

"You..." the words caught in Treble's throat. _I... oh, what am I **doing**? Even if I pity him, feel sorry for him, I'm just going to hurt him worse! _"You're a very selfless Navi. Money or not, you're a friend."

"Truly?"

"Truly." Treble felt like someone was tearing his soul out of his body.

"O-oh... I..." SheepMan stepped forwards and just hugged Treble. "I've been so lonely! Alone, and hopeless."

Treble returned the hug carefully. "You might not want to touch me for too long, you'll get a bug..."

"I don't care!" Sobbed SheepMan. "I... I've been struggling ever since I lost PumpMan. I'll gladly take a bug!"

Treble easily picked SheepMan up, carrying him with both arms over to the chair. "You say that, but I've already destroyed something I didn't mean to with my bugs, and I won't again!"

"W-what?"

Treble sighed. _Don't tell... I... I'm going to tell him._ "ArsenalMan... He used to be a model soldier, uptight to the highest degree and disciplined to a fine edge. But... he got badly injured, and to save him, I carried him away. The thing is... that at the time, I was in my other form."

"The... giant wolf?" Said SheepMan.

"Yes. While I'm like that, the bugs I put out are stronger. One found it's way into his personality... and... well, he still recognises us all as friends, but he's lost a lot of the personality that really made him... ArsenalMan." Treble sighed. "Sorry. Your problems are worse, at least my other friend is alive."

"I... Treble, I'd like to come with you." Said SheepMan.

"What?"

"I'm a solo navi, well... a prototype of one. I can't fight, but I don't need an operator to function. I'll quit here, and come with you. I can't take any more loneliness. Please, let me come and live wherever you do. Please." Said SheepMan.

Treble felt his tail brush against the inside of his leg. Normally it never drooped. "I..." _He's going to get found wherever he goes, now... and ProtoMan will delete him. Unless I stop him. Well, time to do something stupid._ "Alright. Here, this is my P-code." Treble gave SheepMan the small bit of data. "Listen closely. When you're going through the net to get to my place... it's a long journey, and there WILL be viruses. But I can't escort you, because I'm going with Arthur. So... maybe you should wait, and then we'll open a link to here from the chip shop you own?"

"Right... but, I don't own it." Said SheepMan. "Most of these operations... they were funded by Serges. Never let anyone know I said that. But once I quit... that shop won't have any reason to give me special treatment, darling... you know... darling just doesn't work anymore. What should I call you?"

"Uh... I was never good at naming stuff."

"Treble... I'll see you at the chip shop, friend." Said SheepMan. "I promise."

"I'll be waiting for you." Said Treble.

"You should go find Crescendo. I'm sure they'll appreciate the help you're offering..." Said SheepMan. "Goodbye... stay safe."

Treble left the room. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt, mixed with fear. "I'm going to have to fight ProtoMan." He whispered to himself.

* * *

Treble wandered back to the battle area of Eurasia. Trill- _Crescendo_ was waiting on the sidelines. Treble padded over. "Hey. I... wanted to talk a bit."

"Right..." Said Crescendo.

"Well... about your abilities... what are they? Maybe a bit of practice will let you fight better, and I can help if I know what you can do." Said Treble.

Crescendo looked at his hand, turning it into a buster and back. "This buster is called the Erasure buster. I think it's a wordplay on Eurasia. But, if I deleted someone with this... they wouldn't leave behind a ghost. They would be truly deleted."

"But what can you do in combat?" Asked Treble.

"I can use battlechips, or my buster."

"And... most importantly... why couldn't you practice on viruses?"

Crescendo summoned some data he'd been holding. A tiny cube. "If I touch a virus... or even shoot it with my buster, it gets locked inside one of these cubes. I can't practice, because I defeat them instantly."

"Huh. That's a very strong power though."

"Yeah. I don't know... I've been researching ways I might be able to improve myself, but the amount of power I need to gain to stand against a program powerful enough to raise itself from the dead... It seems like an impossible task to me, but I'm the only one who can even attempt it..."

"Maybe I can help you. I'll tell you about a Navi, Crescendo." Said Treble.

"I'm listening."

"There's a Navi called MegaMan, that lives in Electopia. He's the strongest battler I know, and his only basic powers are the same as yours. A buster and battlechips."

"What makes him strong?" Said Crescendo.

"He has an operator that makes him strong. An operator that lets him far surpass my power, an operator that finds every possible power that he could need. Maybe you need to find someone to operate you, with everything they've got?"

"But who? Most of the staff are afraid to use me. They veiw me as the entire internet's one and only chance of defending itself..."

"I don't know. But you should find someone that doesn't have to split their time, and can focus on you." Said Treble. "Maybe try finding MegaMan, too. I'm sure he could give you some advice."

Arthur came back into the room. "Treble, I'm back! We're going to go and check out the chemistry section before we have to leave, the institute closes at half three on sundays."

"Oh, sure!" Said Treble. "Logging out..."

He reappeared in the PET.

* * *

The chemistry floors were both stark white, caution tape laid along the floors. The two families waited at the entrance to the first of the two floors. A burly man with a thick black beard, in a lab coat walked over. "Afternoon. I'm Rhys, Head of Eurasia." He said gruffly. Before anyone could return the greeting, he continued "Stay behind the tape at all times. Do not disturb the workers. If you disobey, I'll have you thrown out. Clear?"

"Clear." Said Mr Penn.

The tour of the chemistry section was science beyond science. Even the simplest things Rhys showed the group made Arthur's head spin. Joe seemed to just about grasp it, and raised his hand. "So you're saying you use compound seven to stabilise the acid-alkalai of your battery? But how do you stop it dissociating?"

Rhys frowned. "The alkalai prevents dissociation of the stabiliser."

"I... see."

Arthur, desperate to see something he might be able to understand asked. "Say... with all the parts here, could you build an improved PET?"

The frown grew deeper. "Perhaps. We of Wirope pride ourselves on the quality of the electrical components we can make, especially wires and circuitry, hence our name. That brings me to this, actually." Rhys stepped to the next work area. "These are the very latest invention of our labs, Electrum-3 circuits." A few small circuits were arranged on the side. "While programming is the most important aspect of a Navi's power, the hardware behind them can still affect how they feel. A good PET will increase a navi's raw power by around 20%. Think of shoes for athletes. Good shoes make a difference, even if the athlete themself is the most important."

"But then, how do solo navis work, without a designated computer?" Said Arthur.

"They draw power from all nearby computers. Of course, to even do such a thing is beyond my programming skills, but Morgan was just able to succeed."

"I see..."

"Now, if a PET were to be built _properly_ using an Electrum-3 circuit, it would be the best PET in the world. It could run any Navi without issue, increasing their power greatly. And that's not all. It's a project still in it's very infancy, but we think... it may be able to influence radio waves for new purposes. But the theories behind it are beyond humanity's understanding, for the moment. It would take a true prodigy to make a step with this technology."

Arthur looked over the parts. He didn't recognise any specifically, but he recongised most as parts for a PET. "I'm excited to see what you do with these." An idea struck. _Maybe I could have my PET upgraded by scilabs with these._ "Are you... planning to make them available for purchase?"

"No. We do sell some of our personal components on the first floor, if you want to buy any parts for your PET." Said Rhys. "But enough time-wasting. Here we have..."

* * *

Just a few minutes before closing time, Arthur stepped into the institute's shop. It resembled a gift shop, but intead of pens and pencils, it was all electrical components and programs. All were available publicly anyway, but still, the quality was a cut above what you might find at a DIY store.

"Finest-grade assorted wires." Read Arthur, looking at a plastic box. "Somehow, I feel like someone would appreciate these, but I don't know why... never mind."

"Quick, let's check out the programs!" Said Treble. "We only have two minutes before they close!"

"Okay!" Arthur scooted over to a wall-sized screen lined with programs. There were a lot of NaviCust programs that Treble couldn't use, and also some cyber furniture that could be placed around one's homepage. "Any of this interest you?"

"...Hey, I recognise that one!" Said Treble. "It's one of those music programs NitroMan had. Could... could we buy that?"

Arthur checked his savings. "We're a bit short on cash."

"Don't worry about that." Said Mrs Penn. "It you two boys want it, consider it my treat." She selected the music box, and showed it to the cashier.

"You're just in time." Said the cashier, handing over a receipt. "Whose PET shall I send it to?"

"My son's, thank you." Said Mrs Penn.

"Okay..." The cashier transmitted the program to Arthur's PET. "There you go!"

"Thanks!"

The intercom chimed. "Ladies and Gentlemen, work has concluded for the day. All visitors, please exit within ten minutes."

"Well, that's our cue." Said Arthur. "I guess we'd better head for the airport."

* * *

As Arthur and his family stepped out of the taxi, he noticed something off about Treble. "Are you sad?" Said Arthur.

Treble looked up at Arthur, tail and ears drooped. "I... I can't say here... it's about SheepMan."

"Did something happen between you two?" Whispered Arthur, trailing behind the others.

"I want to save him." Said Treble. "And... do you still think I'm trustworthy?"

"Where's this coming from? Of course."

"I... I just don't know anymore. After what we've done to SheepMan..." Whispered Treble.

"I promise we'll talk about it as soon as we're home. But for now, we can't miss our flight." Said Arthur.

"Okay."

Arthur went through security, sending Treble into the plane ahead of him. He met up with Joe as they milled around the waiting area. Arthur looked around to check none of thier family were nearby. "I think Treble's conflicted over what we've done. He feels like he's not trustworthy."

Joe considered his response. "No matter how you look at it... we have completely betrayed SheepMan. Although, we never intended to be loyal to him. And... what was the alternative? Letting him get away with kidnapping? Putting our whole country in danger? Forgetting that the riots he caused might have cost lives?"

"...You're right, but... I don't know, Treble's normally happy, even ChanceMan's deletion didn't shake him like this."

Joe frowned. "Maybe... there's more to this than we're realising. You'd better talk in private."

Before Arthur could respond, a nearby TV that had been playing ads changed channel.

'This is a live broadcast from the front of the Eurasia institute! Mere moments ago, the international police surrounded the building in a surprise search, with warrants to find several Navis and operators on suspicion of theft, plagiarism, and even kidnapping. We're now going to speak with one of the accused, a Mr Rhys Laneworth.'

The footage cut to Rhys, hands cuffed. The reporter held her microphone towards him. "Mr Laneworth, operator of the Navi Serges, what can you say about the evidence the officials have found against you? Multiple logs on your computer, all of them pointing towards you orchestrating riots in Electopia."

Rhys looked at the camera, fury in his eyes, infusing his calm voice with dry anger. "I have been set up. I swore, upon taking this postion to pursue the embetterment of humanity with nothing but moral integrity. I will never break my word, and when the culprit's found, I will return to my work, with one less traitor under my employ."

Arthur grimaced. "Serges was Rhys' navi? I know the man was stern, but..."

"They've got the wrong man." Said Joe, desperately. "Because I talked with Rhys... and he doesn't have the skills to organise a covert operation, trust me. He's the kind of Head that does work next to the apprentices, putting everything out in the open. He leads from the front. He'd have the whole staff in on it if he were to break the law, and we'd have found evidence when our Navis were in the server then."

"But... that's just an assessment of his character." Said Arthur. "People can lie, or act."

"You're right. I believe with all my heart he's innocent, but that won't stand up in a courtroom." Said Joe. "I think this is a job for Denny."

"Denny? ...Oh man, are we going to organise a prison break? That might be going a bit far!" Said Arthur.

"No, Arthur." Said Joe. "We're going to find out who's really behind this all."

 **Author's notes: Replayed MMBN6, kind of felt bad killing Gregar at the end now that I've been writing all this. But LifeAura basically stops him ever touching you, and reflector can auto-counter him if you didn't find the LifeAura dealer. Now to go redo the post-game stuff! ...Also, JudgeMan is possibly the weakest boss ever, you can EASILY beat him without using chips because the Beast Buster kills everything he summons in under a second. CircusMan... not so easy (why can't I counter you?! Why can't I dodge your handclaps?! No, not the tent! NOT THE TEEENT!).  
**

 **Also, Eurasia copybot tech is FAR behind cyber city. Although I do believe the two huge copybots at the end of BN6 were Wily's personal creations, and nobody else would have any idea how to make one that big work at all without overheating or overloading.**

 **Reveiwer answers! I nearly forgot!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : What did you think of this one? Strangely, I think M is the only code I barely use, ever. Love your Navi designs, I'll give you a shoutout when you start your fic! **

**See you all next chapter!**


	19. Chapter 19: Home

Arthur stepped into the Electopia airport, PET in hand. Eurasia was on the other side of the world now, even if it's problems felt like they were home's.

"Arthur, go to the bathroom." Said Treble. "I need you to send a message, urgently."

Arthur didn't question it. "Going to the bathroom, wait here guys." He jogged in and locked himself in a stall. "Right, what do you need me to do?"

"Mail Chaud. I need you to tell him not to delete SheepMan."

Arthur swallowed. "Right... but it's Chaud. He won't listen without a good reason."

"I know." Said Treble. "But it might buy us time. I'm going to save him."

"...Why? Is this what you were down about?"

"He's had a tough time." Said Treble. "And... I think I'm his only friend, now. Or... whatever you call a friend that's just blown your life to bits."

"Are you sure you can trust him? He could be lying..." Arthur looked at Treble, seeing the hurt not in his face, but his body language. "But, I have faith in you Treble. If you think this is the right thing to do, then I'll support you." He started tapping out a message. 'Please do not delete the Navi called SheepMan. Treble wishes to speak with him, and will be available on the net in an hour.'

Arthur jogged back out of the bathroom. "Okay, let's go everyone!"

* * *

Back at his home, Arthur ran upstairs and dumped his bag on the floor.

"Get me in, quick! SheepMan is counting on me!" Said Treble.

"Treble, hunt!" Said Arthur, waking up the computer. "...Hey, the SP chip is complete!"

"That's great, but we have to get to ProtoMan now!" Said Treble, in panic.

"We don't even know where he is... wait, I'll check our Email. It's been on silent for the trip in case anyone mailed us in Eurasia." He opened his mail. "There's a reply... 'From Chaud. We do owe you for even being able to bring them in, and your infiltration allowed a strike force to capture almost all Eurasia navis before they could react. Even so, we had no intentions to delete unless absolutely necessary. We'll bring him to your local police station, where our Navis once fought. AFTER we've interrogated him. We will mail you then."

"So... he's safe... whew..." Said Treble.

"Yeah. For now... what about the SP program? It says it can make a second copy of the chip before the data will exceed program values and have to be cleared." Said Arthur.

"Do it. It'll be a pretty cool thing to have if we need to give someone a gift." Said Treble. "I wonder if the officials will recover Trill?"

"He was Crescendo, wasn't he?" Said Arthur. "I suspected it, but I wasn't sure and I couldn't ask..."

* * *

Crescendo ran through the corridors of Eurasia, pursued by Navis.

"Halt! You are resisting arrest!" Shouted an international official.

"No, you'll delete me!" Yelled Crescendo. "Just like StrikeMan!"

"He was not deleted!" the official shouted. "Merely logged out!"

"You liar! You didn't check if he had anywhere to be logged out to!" Screamed Crescendo. He reached the end of the corrdor, and turned, buster raised. "D-don't come any closer!"

The officials surrounded him. "Lower your weapon, NOW!"

Crescendo was hesitant, starting to lower the buster, when one official broke ranks with a sword, lunging for him. He yelped, expecting it would go right through him. There was a heavy feeling in the air for a second.

Crescendo didn't see exactly what happened, but there was a flash and the officials were deleted, in an instant. The power had come from behind him, almost enough to knock him out despite the fact he hadn't been the target. He turned to see a Navi. "W-who _are_ you?"

The intruder lowered twin busters. "Someone who's been where you are now. Come with me or die. Choose. I will grant you a quick and painless deletion if you wish to die."

"I'm coming with you, for StrikeMan!" Said Crescendo.

A portal opened behind the intruder. "Prepare yourself..." He held out a hand.

Crescendo took it, and Bass pulled him through the portal.

* * *

Arthur finished writing the data to a chip. "Treble SP. Slash twice and bug!" He held the chip up. "Joe's gonna love it."

"Yeah." Said Treble.

Arthur looked serious. "I guess we still need to talk. What's bothering you? In detail."

"When we were alone, in Eurasia, I talked with SheepMan. He told me that he was always made fun of back in Eurasia, and that PumpMan was his only friend."

"And... you feel bad because you deleted him, right?"

"Not just that... He... broke down. He said he'd felt lonely for ages, and he said he wanted to quit Eurasia to try and find a friend... and I said I was his friend."

"..."

"He hugged me while crying, and said he'd quit the second we were home, and then he'd open a link to the chipshop and come to live in Electopia."

"Don't blame yourself." Said Arthur, struggling for words. "You... you had to put him in that situation, for the sake of everyone else."

"But maybe there was another way to stop them? I just... he trusts me completely, but I... I've been betraying him from the start."

"...Maybe there was. But we couldn't see it. What matters now is that we make it so you're not so shaken up."

"I want to tell him. But I'm afraid if I do, he'll hate me."

"Well... I guess you'll have to choose whatever you hate least."

"...Yeah."

"Want to go hunt down some viruses? Or maybe we could go and explore some places."

"Ha... you always know what I like. Let's go explore the Undernet a bit."

* * *

Treble hit the ground standing, a little injured. "Gyah, these viruses don't show mercy!"

"Do you want to flee?"

"Nah, give me the M-Cannon and I'll finish it!"

"M-Cannon in!"

Treble raised the red weapon, and narrowly avoided a spear that was thrown at him. The Piranha3 was not so lucky. Treble sighed. "I'm surprised anyone can live here with viruses like this. You must have to be stupidly tough."

A nearby Navi looked over. "Never had you pegged for a surface dweller."

Treble cocked his head. "If you're going to fight me, then bring it." He snarled.

The dark navi laughed. "Eh, I'm not as dumb as the rest of the net. Not every battle is worth fighting. But still, you're a surface dweller? You got a fighting style that would fit in _real_ nice around here."

"Hey, how do you live here? These viruses would wear down anyone quickly." Said Treble.

"Same way we all do. They don't care about us. The viruses round here can't see you if you gotta black heart. Now, wanna buy something? I AM a netmerchant."

"...Whatcha got?"

"Depends how much I like you. You want a SneakRun NaviCust program? Or maybe a BugStop?"

"I don't have a NaviCust. You got any chips?"

"Bah. Only WideShot."

"How much?"

"7000 Zenny."

"Aw. Well, I would if I could. See ya." Said Treble, walking off.

Arthur looked around. "You know, we've wandered pretty deep into the UnderNet. Maybe we should fall back for now."

"I want to visit Bass, actually. Maybe he could help me calm down with a battle."

"...He'll utterly steamroll you." Said Arthur.

"Yeah, but it'll be fine." Said Treble.

"Treble? Is that you?!" Called a voice.

Treble turned. "PlugMan! Didn't expect to see you here!"

PlugMan was floating behind him. "Why are you so deep in the UnderNet? I thought you were dealing with Eurasia, while I handled the Cybeasts."

"Eurasia's been arrested. There's more to do, but... I wanted to calm down a bit."

"By fighting the strongest viruses on the common net?" Said PlugMan.

"Yeah."

PlugMan shrugged "If you're looking for somewhere, I can give you pointers. The Graveyard, Nebula Area, what's left of Black Earth, the WWW area... I know where they all are. Of course, you might not be able to get in."

"Graveyard? Isn't that more of a human thing?" Said Treble. "We don't leave any remains to bury."

"No, it's definitely a graveyard." Said PlugMan. "I'll guide you there if you want, but you can't enter without having used at least 100 different standard chips. You used to also need something called a beast's mark, but then the requirements changed mysteriously. Nobody's sure why."

"...How do I check that?"

Arthur opened a menu. "I can check it, in our library. We've registered 87 standard chips."

Treble looked down. "Aw. This Graveyard place sounds pretty cool."

"Meh. Don't sweat it, that requirement isn't too hard to meet. Actually... Denny has a suggestion for a place you could go check out."

"Where?" Said Treble excitedly.

"Ever heard of the Underground?" Said PlugMan. "It actually took me a long time to figure out how to get in there, ever since the hole in Central Area was patched up."

"The Underground? I'm sure I've heard of it somewhere..." Said Treble.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, remembering. "It's where Gregar and Falzar were imprisoned. I actually know a lot of the history. They're basically credited with creating that place, it used to be somewhere on the main net, until their huge fight ended up in there and completely wrecked it. But then they damaged the internet enough to literally shift the entire net, and knocked the place they were in _through_ Central area, making a giant hole. Anyway, they were sealed inside by the people then, until some moron thought 'Hey, waking up the cybeasts sounds fun!'."

"You used to be able to access it by going down a big hole in the Net's central area." Said PlugMan. "But ever since the beasts were defeated, their power waned and the hole was able to be patched up, making the place unaccessible... until I found a way back in. I warn you, it's not for the faint of heart. The viruses there attack even Undernet dwellers."

"Well, that sounds perfect right now! Lead the way." Said Treble.

"Right..." PlugMan floated away, beckoning Treble to follow.

* * *

They arrived in the back of a dark undernet server. PlugMan looked back. "Do you see that?"

Treble looked around. Only one thing was noteworthy. "Is that a statue of the Cybeasts?"

"Yes. It used to be near the UnderNet's entrance, but it shifted here. Actually, I think it was at the same time the cybeasts were defeated." Said PlugMan. "Come, we need to get closer."

They picked their way through the maze of an area, coming to stand before the statues. Treble felt his tail curl in apprehension. "Something here... something feels dangerous."

"You're right." Said PlugMan. "Kneel before these statues and lower your guard, and you will be transported to the Underground... and suffer heavy damage."

"Well, I didn't come here to chicken out! Send me a FullEnergy, Arthur."

"We only have one left, are you sure?"

"I'm sure. This place sounds like just what I need right now."

Arthur activated the FullEnergy. "Alright."

Treble looked to PlugMan. "Do you want to come too?"

"...nah. See ya round. Don't get deleted." PlugMan said, before turning and floating off.

Treble kneeled, and tried to relax his wariness. "So, how do I know if this is working?"

Arthur didn't respond.

"Arthur? Are you there?" Said Treble.

Suddenly, he realised the background of the area had changed a little.

"Treble, are you ok?!" Said Arthur. "The screen went black for a moment."

"Yeah, I'm not hurt at all." Said Treble. "But this is the Underground alright."

"Are you sure? PlugMan said it would injure you..."

"It smells like Gregar and Flare- Falzar. VERY strongly, like press-my-face-against-them-and-sniff strongly, I can't smell anything else. And there are all these claw marks everywhere on the floor... Hey, you can see Gregar got blown back pretty hard there." He pointed to four groups of parallel grooves in a nearby set of panels."

"Be on your guard, Treble. The viruses here are going to be crazy."

Treble glanced around, seeing a HeadyW float by aimlessly. "Really?"

"Are... are they not bothering you?" Said Arthur.

Treble shrugged. "Maybe it's because I'm similar to Gregar. This whole place must think I'm him."

"That makes sense, I guess... Well, shall we explore?"

Treble cautiously walked through the area, seeing more and more scars of the battle fought long ago. He pointed to a crater in a wall. "I think Falzar got smacked into that pretty hard." And some burn marks on the floor. "Gregar missed his flame breath there..." None of the viruses paid any attention to Treble. "You know, I feel like I'm intruding on their privacy by being here."

"They probably don't even know this place still exists." Reasoned Arthur. "And it's not like you're making the damage any worse."

"Yeah. Hey, maybe I should show them. It would make a _sweet_ secret base." Said Treble. "Hey, what's that over there? I've never seen any virus like that..." He ran over towards a small red thing.

"It's a Rush virus." Said Arthur. "They're really rare nowadays."

The Rush looked at Treble, unmoving. Treble bent down. "It's adorable! Why would these be rare, who could delete one of these?" He stared at the Rush.

"Well, they do normally attack." Said Arthur. "Although, SciLabs actually figured out how to alter the AI these viruses have. You can get a NaviCust program that makes a Rush virus loyal to you. Oh, and there's a rumor that if you have a special item, you can tell a Rush to be a bridge for you to step between walkways."

"Huh, cool. Although it would be a bit weird for me to run that NaviCust program even if I could. I mean, A wolf walking a dog?"

"Someone would probably be pretty amused by that honestly." Said Arthur. "Should we keep going? I think we're nearly at the back of this place, it isn't too big."

"Ok." Treble left the Rush virus be, and went up a ramp. "Ha, you weren't kidding. This is where it ended." He was standing before a huge, strong stone platform, with shattered chains around the edges and a deep crater in the center.

"You can tell?" Said Arthur.

"Yeah."

"...I read everything about the cybeasts I could. Weren't they in stalemate? 'Whoever moved first would lose'? How did that happen if they were so close to each other?"

Treble looked around. "I think I've got it. They literally pinned each other, so if either of them moved the other one could overpower them instantly. These chains smell like Flare" He looked to the chains on the left. "And these ones like Gregar." He looked to the chains on the right. "So... I guess that's where they were."

"You've got to admire the balls someone had, to come down here and chain a pair of Cybeasts." Said Arthur.

"Very brave or very stupid. What a Navi though." Agreed Treble. "You know, I feel a lot better having been here. It reminds me things could always be worse."

"Good, because it's getting late." Said Arthur. "School might be out, but I have to sleep."

"...Do you ever get the urge to scratch your name into something?" Said Treble.

"What are you about to do?"

"I kind of want to scratch 'Treble was here' into this stone."

"Don't."

"Aww."

* * *

Arthur slept until nine. When he eventually got up, the sun was coming straight through the window.

"Finally!" Said Treble.

"Jet lag..." Said Arthur.

"Never mind that, SheepMan's down at the station, we got the mail like an hour ago!"

"Right. Do think it would matter if I had breakfast before we went?"

"Just send me in, I'll probably be halfway there before you finish your cereal." Said Treble. "Oh yeah, and you have mail from William."

"Read it out?"

"He says: We're meeting down at the park at ten. We've got a lot to do."

"Alright, that's enough time to go and get SheepMan. Treble, hunt!" Arthur sent Treble in.

"Oh, the second SP chip has finished. Stick a chip in the PET!" Said Treble.

"Yep..." Arthur clumsily fed the PET a blank chip. "I'll be right back, hopefully more awake." Arthur left the room.

The first thing Treble realised when he stepped out onto the net was that someone was waiting for him. "Oh! Ember."

Ember nodded. "Treble. We were called to escort you to the station... not that you need it. Rules are rules, that's all."

"That's ok! How are you looking forwards to the next round of the tournament?" Said Treble, as they set off walking.

"Oh, we've got this. And the round after, we bet."

"You're that confident?! Who are you up against?"

"You, silly!" Said Ember. "If we both win our next rounds, we'll fight each other in the tournament."

"Oh! Heh, that reminds me, I better check who I'll be up against in the first round." Treble took a look through the PET's files. "A navi called Zero. I'm sure I've heard that name before..."

"You'll probably win. Heyyy..." Ember looked ahead, grinning. "An OldBurner! I'm not normally glad when a virus blocks the path, but FireBurn's a great chip."

"Aw, man. Arthur's still downstairs... I wonder if he'd be mad if I fought without him." Said Treble.

"Oh no you don't, the main reason I'm escorting you is for safety." Said Ember. "Just sit back and let me do the hard part."

Treble glared at the virus. He huffed. "Alright. Go for it!"

"Here I go." Said Ember. "Blaze, send me some chips."

Ember stretched her feet, standing on tiptoes for a second. She put her feet down with wheels materialised on each, and Treble noticed a pair of small jet engines heating up on her back. There was a burst of flame, and Ember shot forwards faster than Treble had been expecting, speed on par with the likes of Gregar or himself when they sprinted. As she closed in, the grate slid down on the OldBurner, and fire started to build inside the virus. Just when Treble was sure Ember couldn't move to the side in time, she leapt into the air with perfect timing, extending the blades on her arms. She landed a little to the side of the virus, delivering a solid cut and swinging her body around on the virus to perform a sharp U-turn. Treble saw her face was now covered by a mask of sorts, heavy grey plate protecting her whole face, with some kind of orange blade along the centre line. Grinding like a pro skater on her wheeled boots, Ember took out a MachGun and strafed the virus before it could regain its bearings. Ember came to a neat halt as the Virus was deleted, mask sliding back up to reveal her face and wheels disappearing. She turned to Treble and gave a short bow, smug grin forcing its way onto her face. "Tadaa." She said, almost mockingly.

Treble tilted his head a little. "Not bad! Did you get your chip?"

"Blaze, any luck? ...Yes! We got a FireBurn3." Said Ember. "So, let's keep going."

"Ok!"

They kept walking for a little while. Arthur came back into the room. "Hey, I'm back. Oh, who's that? I feel like I've seen her before."

"It's Ember! She investigated the tournament when a virus broke in." Said Treble.

"Ah, I see."

Treble looked back to Ember. "Anyway... what kind of strategy do you use in battle? Just try and burn your enemy down quickly?"

Ember shrugged. "Fighting with a steady pace has its merits. Of course, if you were to ask my NetOp then just going in at full power is a legitimate strategy. We're here." They were in front of the normal entrance to the police computer. "I'll be on my way for now."

"Fight me soon?" Said Treble.

"Naturally." Ember walked off.

Treble entered the computer, seeing a regular official Navi waiting. "I'm here to pick up SheepMan." He said.

The official checked a few files. "Alright. I do wonder how the charges against him were mysteriously dropped, but he seems harmless enough. Tor, release SheepMan from holding."

SheepMan was logged into the computer. "W-w-what now?!" He said in a panic.

"I'm here for you." Said Treble.

SheepMan instantly ran for Treble, as fast as he could. "You came for _me_?!" He hugged Treble and didn't let go. "Please, take me somewhere safe. I'm not cut out for this."

Treble carefully pried SheepMan off his chest. "Bugs, remember. Come on, SheepMan. Let's go back to my page."

SheepMan nodded, and they left the PoliceComp. The moment they were outside, SheepMan started crying again. "Oh... it was so hard in there... I've never known any life but the safety of Eurasia, but now... it's all fallen apart, and it's my fault!"

"It's not your fault." Said Treble. _It's MY fault._ "You didn't mastermind the plans, did you? You just did what you thought was right."

SheepMan was silent for a while, then turned his hand into the small buster and looked at it. "I remember the day I was given this. For service to Eurasia, a top-quality buster that was resistant to corruption. I'm not worthy to hold it."

Treble looked at the buster. "Why? You served them as best you could."

"And look at where that got them." Said SheepMan. He took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the buster, before manually detaching the program, leaving behind his regular hand. He held the buster carefully, then reached back and threw it as far as he could, before Treble could stop him. "I don't want to see it again. I just want to forget what I've done..."

"If you forgot, where would that leave Rhys?" Said Arthur.

"Rhys?" Said SheepMan. "Has something happened to even R-Rhys?!"

"He was arrested too. But... he didn't seem like a criminal to me or Joe." Said Arthur.

SheepMan stopped walking and sobbed. "He's not! It's Morgan. Morgan is the ringleader."

Treble picked up SheepMan, and kept walking. "I'm not sure Morgan was arrested?"

Arthur connected two and two. "SheepMan." He said urgently. "Who operates Serges?"

"Nobody but Morgan! ...W-why?"

"Oh, that's not good." Said Treble. "Rhys has been framed, then."

"Wh-what?!" Cried SheepMan.

"You'll have to watch the news report to see everything." Said Arthur.

Treble set SheepMan down in front of his security cube. "We're here. This is my page." He said, as the cube unlocked. "Come on." They walked in.

Treble's page was relatively empty, since he didn't spend much time there. The music box from Wirope sat in the middle, and some of the Mr Progs from the computer ran around the edges.

"I can live here?" Said SheepMan.

"Yes." Said Arthur.

Treble looked downcast. "I... I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Said SheepMan.

Treble couldn't find the right words. _I'm an undercover official. I sabotaged your entire life. I deleted PumpMan. I used your trust to do all this._ "I..." He sighed. "Hit me. It'll make me feel better about what I'm about to say."

"I could never hit you!" Protested SheepMan. "After all you've done for me?!"

"Please." Said Treble.

"No!"

"HIT ME!" Treble shouted.

"I won't do that!" SheepMan cowered back.

"I DELETED PUMPMAN!" He roared. "...I deleted him. I've been working for the officials since the very start." He looked to one side. "I joined your movement to try and get back a Navi called Trill. That was why I did everything I did..."

SheepMan was silent.

"Everything that's happened to you... it's my fault." Said Treble. "Not yours."

SheepMan was still silent. He turned around and started walking. "...Goodbye." He said.

"W-wait! Don't go! I care about you! I didn't at first, but you're innocent in all this! You're a friend!" Said Treble.

SheepMan left the page. Treble's voice caught again, silencing him.

Arthur looked at the screen sadly. "We should go after him. He only had 50 health, and he has no weapons."

Treble sat down and made a sound, a low whimper.

"Are... are you crying?" Said Arthur quietly.

"I can't." Said Treble, voice choked up. "I don't have the data to. I just..." He sobbed. "I should have WAITED!" He said in frustration.

"I know you don't want to be pushed now of all times, but if you care about him we have to get moving immediately." Said Arthur.

"...yeah." Treble picked himself up. "I'll let it out later."

* * *

"Where is he?!" Said Treble. "He didn't leave much of a trail, but it stops dead here and no battle has happened!"

Arthur took his turn to be quiet. "We've... we've lost him."

Treble dropped to his knees and made a vicious, frustrated swipe at the floor. His claws gouged out three little grooves. "I deleted him."

"Dont be-"

"I didn't do it myself, but if I'd just waited a few days to tell him... he'd be safe right now." Said Treble. Suddenly, he shot to his feet. "I smell him!" He started sprinting for a dead end in the network. He looked around wildly. "SheepMan? Where are you?!" His foot tapped against something.

SheepMan's buster.

Treble picked up the small black program. "Damn it all..."

"Carry it with you." Said Arthur. "We won't give up hope. Until we can find him, or we know what happened to him... you'll need all the strength you can get to make sure you can't be stopped."

"You're right." Said Treble. He reached beind himself and grabbed his tail. He held the back of the buster to it, and it affixed automatically, replacing the tip. He experimentally shifted the tip of his tail to normal, and back to the buster. "...It fits like it was made for me."

"It does." Said Arthur. There was a ping from the PET. Arthur read the mail. "...The others want to make sure I don't forget to meet them. They can wait."

"No, go meet up with your friends." Said Treble. "But... Can I stay in the computer for now?"

"Okay."

"And could you send me my advance?" Asked Treble.

"Here you go." Said Arthur. He nearly decided to add 'Don't go on a rampage or anything' but held his tongue back, trusting Treble enough. He fed in the chips. "I'll be back in an hour."

"See you..."

* * *

Arthur jogged up to the park, where his friends were waiting. "Everyone! It's been too long, Denny."

Denny raised a hand in greeting. "'sup."

"We were worried you weren't coming!" Said Joe.

"Wait, where's you PET?" Said William.

Arthur frowned. "It's back home. Treble's... dealing with some stuff." He put a hand into his pocket, and it brushed against a chip. "Oh, but before I forget! This is for you, Joe."

Joe carefully took the chip. "Your SP chip?! But... these are so hard to make..."

"You earned it. Treble wanted you and MathMan to have it, ever since you gave him your EX chip."

Denny nodded. "Nice chip." He said lazily. "But, we got stuff to do."

"Yes." Said William. "I've looked myself, and I agree that the head of Euraisa has been framed. The details align perfectly."

"I talked to SheepMan earlier, actually." Said Arthur. "And he says Serges is Morgan's Navi, not Rhys'."

Denny raised an eyebrow. "The rumor was true, then. I take it you people want to prove that to the world?"

"Of course. If the real culprit is still out there, then the country's still in danger." Said William. "And even so, the innocent should not be punished."

"Actually, I think it's pretty obvious the country's going to be just fine." Said Denny. "Think about this like a proper detective. What would motivate someone to start a MASSIVE crime that would get someone life in jail? Someone that happens to be your _only superior._ Because if I took a guess... I'd say he did this to get control of the institute."

"A solid theory, but where's your proof?" Said Joe. "We need to have evidence that can make it clear Rhys is innocent and Morgan is guilty."

"Not here. And besides, who says it's Morgan behind all this?" Said Denny. "It could be the third or fourth in command. Just someone hungry for advancement."

"Serges is Morgan's Navi, and was registered to Rhys just long enough to frame him." Reminded Arthur.

"By who? Because someone could be framing Morgan too." Said Denny.

Joe placed a hand on his head. "How do you deal with these messes?"

"Hacking." Answered Denny. "Hacking and espionage."

"That leaves the Cybeast. Perhaps he's not trying to destroy the net anymore, but we can't leave that group unchecked just because we fought together once." Said William.

"This may be optimistic, but... I think we should try and befriend them." Said Arthur. "Aside from the fact they could realistically beat us in a fight, I don't want to make Treble fight Flare."

"Flare's not a Cybeast, why would she be in any danger?" Said Joe.

Arthur froze. "About that." He said awkwardly.

Denny chuckled. "I'll tell them if you don't want to be a snitch. Flare is Falzar."

"That... makes a lot of sense actually. When you consider her abilites, they match up." Said William.

"Well, then your idea is already working!" Said Joe. "Treble seemed to be on pretty good terms with her."

"But the stories said Falzar HATED Gregar. Her own targeting program literally drove her insane trying to kill him. And we need to befriend them both." Said Arthur.

"Yet now they stand together." Said Denny. "Oh, don't forget the tournament. Next round's tomorrow."

"Right!" Said Arthur.

 **Author's notes: And in this chapter, angst! SheepMan and Crescendo aren't done yet though, and there's much more to be explored with the cybeasts.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 _ **JANEVALENTINE007:**_ **How do you like him now? And I actually just tried making an M folder using a bunch of Trainarrows. It slaughters BlastMan and HeatMan, and it's decent on viruses. Not so great against the other bosses.**

 **RushAlias: Trill's trials have just begun. Even if we may not see many of them.**


	20. Chapter 20: Hopes

Arthur got back into his house to see his father making some kind of pastry in the kitchen. "Hi dad."

"Son, you left your navi in the network when you went out. He's been howling and mine is too afraid to tell him to be quiet, so could you maybe go and tell him to put a sock in it? Oh, and have you seen the TV remote anywhere? I swear that thing goes invisible sometimes."

"Ah, I'll go get him to quiet down a bit. I hardly watch TV, but have you tried checking behind it? I know mom sometimes leaves it there, next to the TV's computer."

"Will do. You better go quiet your Navi. Seriously, I thought something that big wouldn't have to scream if it stubbed its toe." he smiled at his own joke.

"Ok!" Arthur ran up the stairs. The first thing he noticed when he entered was that the PET had been muted. He picked it up and turned on the sound to hear a long, continuous howl. "Treble?"

GS-Treble was sitting in the computer with the entrance shut. He stopped howling. "OH, YOU'RE BACK. I FEEL A BIT BETTER AFTER DOING THAT FOR A FEW MINUTES."

"Good. You had a couple of Navis scared silly." Said Arthur, smiling.

"REALLY? BUT I CLOSED THE ENTRANCE TO THE COMPUTER, HOW COULD THEY HEAR ME?"

"Well, it's not like it was disconnected physically. And you are also kind of... ear-splittingly loud."

"YEAH, THAT MAKES SENSE. SO, WHAT'S THE PLAN? DID JOE GET THE CHIP? LOOKING BACK, I WANTED TO BE THERE TO SEE THE REACTION..."

"Joe was pretty surprised to get it, but happy too. Now, the plan. There's the next round of the tournament tomorrow, so we should prepare for that. But long term, we've got a new objective and I think it's one you'll like. We're going to try and get to know the two cybeasts better."

"FLARE AND GREGAR? I WONDER IF I'LL BE ABLE TO GET THEIR NAVICHIPS?"

"Well, I guess we could probably do that. Although you do realise that means you have to beat them in combat?"

"I CAN DO THAT! PROBABLY."

"Considering you nearly ended up with your head ripped off the last time you fought Gregar, maybe we should be more careful which battles we pick?"

"THAT'S A BORING PLAN AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"I just think we should try and set it up as a regular netbattle rather than a match to deletion." Said Arthur.

"...FINE, FINE. SO, THE TOURNAMENT! HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S COMING UP?"

"Only a bit. Eurasia kept us occupied for the days leading up to it. What information have we got?"

"WE'RE AGAINST A NAVI CALLED ZERO."

"Zero? What do we know about him?"

"NOTHING."

"...Right. Well, in that case we should try and push on with our other objective. And maybe ask Chaud for a debriefing." Added Arthur.

"SO, HOW DO WE EVEN APPROACH THEM? IT WAS WAY EASIER WHEN WE COULD JUST GO AND FIGHT THEM."

"Beats me. You can try and think of something while I mail Chaud." Arthur started tapping away at his Email.

'To: Chaud

We'd like a debreifing on the Euraisa incident. Also, we're planning to try and find more information on the two resurrected cybeasts, and hopefully make them our allies. If there's any information you can give us that might help, it would be appreciated.'

"WHO DO YOU THINK OPERATES THEM, ANYWAY?" Said Treble. "MAYBE IT WOULD BE FASTER TO TRY FINDING THE OPERATOR?"

"No, there's no way. Besides, don't the beasts have really strong signatures? We could try and have MathMan scan for-" The PET beeped. "Oh, that was fast. From Chaud... The Eurasia mission has succeeded in bringing down a large threat, but we strongly suspect we have failed to find and convict the true leader, and more importantly, we have not recovered the kidnapped Navi Trill. At this point, you're accomplished enough as fighters for me to trust you with potentially dangerous tasks, so I would ask that if you find out anything about Trill, you report it to me immediately. On the matter of the cybeasts, we've organised a task force to either capture or delete them, and I advise you stay away in case you lose your Navi. However, if you absolutely must engage them or your Navi insists on attempting to talk, then I advise you set up an escape route pre-emptively should things go bad."

"THE TASK FORCE WILL BE A TOTAL FLOP. CALLING IT NOW." Said Treble.

"I don't know, ProtoMan's a terror in combat. He barely tried to fight you and nearly deleted you, and then stood around with a HP bug for five minutes without showing ANY sign of weakness."

"BUT WOULD HE COME PERSONALLY? HIS OPERATOR'S REALLY BUSY?"

"He came personally for you."

"...OH YEAH."

"Well, let's go and roam around their area for a bit. We might get lucky and find one of them."

* * *

Arthur frowned a little as he watched a now normal Treble delete a few viruses. "You don't seem all that enthusiastic today."

Treble looked down. "Normally battle gets my thoughts in order, but I can't get SheepMan off my mind."

"It's only been a couple of hours. Give it a day or two at least. It wouldn't be any good if you got hurt because you were distracted in battle."

"I guess. Maybe we should go somewhere? I know it's kind of cloudy outside, but... I just don't want to face someone like Gregar right now. What if I mess up trying to make friends with him, too?"

"Alright. Where to?" Said Arthur. "There's the chip shop, the park, or I guess we could go to the regular old shops. Oh, and didn't an amusement arcade open a few months ago? Not really my kind of thing, but if you enjoy those places I'll take you."

"...Never mind." Said Treble. "The next round is tomorrow, so I should try and get ready for it. And that starts with some good old virus busting."

"If that's what you want. Let's go hunting."

Treble looked up. "Mm." He said, a little more brightly. "Let's go."

Treble wandered aimlessly for a while, going wherever felt right. He deleted a few viruses, and continued into a secluded area before stopping.

"Huh, I can feel something..." Said Treble. "Over there."

"Let's go check it out." Suggested Arthur.

Treble travelled for another few minutes before seeing a Swordy2 virus. He raised the M-Cannon and fired, easily deleting the enemy. Treble then saw the Navis it had been facing, stopping in his tracks. "Ohhhh no."

"Do you need to log out?"

"Just... be ready." Said Treble to Arthur. "I... hi..."

Alias and Gregar already had their busters pointed at Treble. Gregar spoke first. "What do you want, faker? If it's a fight I have just the move to test out!"

Treble let the cannon dissolve and held up his hands. "I'm not here to fight. Not right now."

Alias narrowed his eyes and kept his buster primed. Gregar was wary for a second, but lowered his claws. "You ain't here to fight?"

"As much as I want a rematch, with an actual winner... I need a favor." Said Treble.

Alias glanced at a virus that was straying too close, before refocusing on Treble. "And why do you think we would help you?"

Treble looked at Alias and Gregar. "Because we may have a common enemy. Or at least we will have one."

Both of them looked just a little surprised by this. "We fought the electric beast over virus, but one fight hardly means we have the same enemy" Said Gregar. "Who may this enemy be?"

 _Wait, the officials wanted this kept secret!_ "I can't say."

"You can't say and you want us to work together."

"Look, its classified, I am not suppose to talk about it." Said Treble in panic.

"If I recalled, you were sent to hunt the cybeasts." Alias countered. "Talking to Gregar, now that's already breaking the rules- so you might as well break some more."

Arthur weighed up the possible outcomes of telling them. "It should be okay. Go ahead."

"Alright fine, just don't go posting this up on any BBS." Said Treble.

"I am continuously attacked, by random navis anywhere I go, who am I going to tell." Gregar retorted.

"That's fair." Treble stated remembering MathMan and ArsenalMan's past encounters with the beast." My friends and I are working with the officials at the moment, to bring down a group of... terrorists from Wirope. Before you ask why you should bother with official stuff, hear me out. These terrorists have kidnapped a netnavi by the name of Crescendo."

"Crescendo?"

"Yeah, he's a real nice guy when you get to know him, actually."

"Get to the point, Faker."

"Right, right sorry. Crescendo is capable of _permanently_ deleting any virus or net navi. You know how very strong viruses or... well, us, we could probably resurrect ourselves if we were deleted. It might take us a while, but we could do it. Well, Crescendo was made to end those types of programs permanently. We can't leave him in the wrong hands."

Gregar unknowingly to both navis had tensed up at the mention of self-resurrection. "And you want us to help stop them, before they try a massive take over the net, then the world." The green beast growled.

Treble nodded in response. "Well, Flare did say we should be working together, and you do seem to get along with her so..."

"I KNOW WHAT FLARE SAID!" Gregar yelled, shocking both Alias and Treble. "RRAAHHHH!" He crackled with power, enough to forcibly push Alias away a little. Treble was afraid he was about to attack, but he logged out.

"What the- why's he suddenly so angry?!" Said Treble.

Alias shrugged, and lowered his buster. "I'm logging out too for now. I'll admit he's not normally _this_ angry." Alias turned and disappeared.

Arthur was worried. "Has he... gone mad?"

"No, I don't think so." Said Treble. "log me out, we'd better get ready to defend in case he has, though!"

* * *

Treble waited in the square local to Gregar's area. If anywhere was in danger, they reasoned, it would be here.

"I don't sense him..." Said Treble. "Maybe we're overrreacting."

The PET beeped. Arthur opened the mail. "Oh my." He said, quietly.

"Huh? What is it?"

"It's a email from someone anonymous. I'll read it... 'This is Gregar's NetOp. Send Treble to this area, the SkateShopComp. He must come alone. Be quick'. This... sounds like a trap."

"It isn't. Beast's honour, trust me." Said Treble.

"What on earth is 'Beast's honour'? I've never heard of it before." Said Arthur.

"Just a mutual agreement. No traps, no coward's tactics like assassinating or having underlings do your work, and most importantly, no whining about getting your butt kicked." Said Treble.

"Right... well, let's get over there."

Treble set off at a run, weaving through the slightly unfamiliar net. "Where am I looking for?"

"SkateShopComp... There it is!" Said Treble, running in.

Inside was a relatively simple area, three Navis waiting. Gregar, Alias, and... some kind of skateboard-themed Navi?

Alias looked to the third one. "You can log out now. He hasn't betrayed us." The skateboarder nodded and disappeared.

Treble looked at the two. "Soooo... why've you called me here? Where's Flare, is she okay?"

Gregar frowned. "Flare... she is still hopeful to the fact that things will be alright..." His voice suddenly started to rise. "But you know something?! She wasn't there! She wasn't there when Alpha antagonized me, she wasn't there for me when I was imprisoned in the underground and she wasn't there when the so-called hero of the net forcefully installed me into his system and stole my power." His tone was simmering, boiling with rage that was held back by a rapidly cracking dam.

Treble was confused. "But isn't Flare Falzar? Wasn't she sealed away with you?" He asked.

Gregar looked down before facing Treble. A sound suddenly escaped his mouth, laughter. Horrrible, broken laughter that sent chills down both Treble's back. "You really don't get it do you. You and the officials are really ignorant to it all aren't you? You're so absolutely CLUELESS!" Gregar said as he walked away.

"I don't get it- what are you talking about, Gregar?! Is. Flare. Alright?!" Treble asked now frustrated with Gregar's behaviour.

Gregar suddenly stopped laughing, and both Alias and Treble noticed his aura had flared. "What am I talking about, what am I talking about!" Gregar the turned and rushed straight for Treble. The buggy wolf had barely any time to react and raised his claws to parry Gregar's. They locked hands, but Gregar had a lot a of momentum and slammed Treble into a wall. Treble pushed back, resistant as Gregar shouted in his face.

"Flare is not the first Falzar. She is the fourth! The FOURTH!" He said, hardening his grip on Treble. "And she is not going to be the last, if Bass doesn't get his bytes together. We are going to have to deal with _another_ one." He finally let Treble go.

Treble losened his arms, sore from when the elder beast charged him. "Give me BugAura. I think I have to listen to this."

"On the way!"

He looked up at Gregar, whose green aura was still radiating. The greyish aura appeared around Treble as he was bathed in protective light. Gregar was clearly not amused by the fact that Treble was somewhat copying him, and he swiped, claws bouncing off the bubble. He focused, and then stuck again, faster, and faster, a flurry of powerful blows intended to break the BugAura.

He pulled back and snarled, suddenly shooting forwards a tremendous blast of green aura shaped like his head at Treble. The mouth clamped down hard, sparking against and decisively destroying Treble's aura. Treble was forced to take a few steps back from the blast, startled by the surge of power released by Gregar. He looked up at the navi as he brought his claws up to defend himself.

"What do you mean by _fourth_ Falzar? I thought there was only one!" Shouted Treble.

"There was only one made, it just so happens that she was made as a phoenix- and made defectively." Gregar roared in his face. "Falzar was not originally a cybeast. She was just an innocent navi as far as I know. Then she was taken by that... _wretch_ of a doctor. I think society appropriately renamed him 'demon'. He took the original Falzar- a simple Navi- and force fused her with a lot of other programs, Bug fusion without using bugs. But worst of all, he installed her targeting system right over her personality, nearly destroying her. What's worse, is that due to his own programming, the targeting system went haywire, further destroying what little of her remained."

Treble was silent, he knew what bugs could do to someone's personality.

Gregar started laughing once more in low, sad bursts. "But poor Falzar's story doesn't stop there. She was outfitted with the Phoenix System, a program that exists in every part of her body. To put it simply... your Crescendo would find himself locked in an infinite loop with her. If even a tiny part of her data survived she could reform by infecting and corrupting any virus or navi stupid enough to absorb her data. Eventually Falzar would be reborn even if she was totally destroyed but would slowly go mad once more because the targeting system would reform over her personality." Gregar continued. He had stopped and looked over at both navis. Even Alias looked visibly shaken by Gregar's revelation. Gregar took a deep breath, and seemed to have recomposed himself. "Flare is the fourth Falzar, after three times being reborn." he spoke, he then looked down in what appeared to be shame. "The first two I fought. And deleted."

Treble prepared to attack. "Have you hurt her?! ANSWER ME!"

Gregar shook his head. "I deleted her twice in the underground, the third was deleted in cyber city by two navis that were almost as powerful as MegaMan, Flare was born from one's remains in fact. But Bass stole nearly half her power first. She is just like the others- it's only a matter of time before she goes rogue. And then? And then I will have to end her madness, just for it to start again." Gregar spat. "You know, the first time I deleted her... we'd been chained, and couldn't move easily. The second either did, we could have impaled the other. And then... she said the first thing since she became a beast. She said my name and shifted just a tiny bit. I deleted her on the spot. I didn't move for a while then. I'd deleted the only Navi that showed me compassion. Imagine how happy I was when she came back to life. We talked, but it didn't last. She went mad and I deleted her again. The third time she lived... we knew it was hopeless. We just put ourselves into a deep sleep to try and cheat the system, and that got us _both_ deleted." Gregar said angrily. "Now do you realise why I won't help you and the officials?! It's because it was their actions led to all our pain. They attacked me after their oh-so-precious Alpha was the one to start the fight. They cursed Flare to eternal insanity. And now they expect me to come save them because their own weapon has fallen into the 'wrong hands'?! Here is my response: I would rather bathe in a poison tile than help them. I only work with Alias and his NetOp now." And with that Gregar logged out.

Treble looked over at Alias. Alias let go of a breath he'd been holding. "Don't look at me, that was all new to me as well." The black armoured navi responded. "But if what you say is true then I might consider helping, not because I want to help the officials- But because the idea of helping keep innocent navis from being deleted seems like something my creator would have wanted." Alias finished. He turned to leave but stopped mid way remembering something. "Oh! There is one more thing I forgot." A chip appeared in his hand, he tossed it over to Treble who caught it. Treble scanned the chip and almost did a double take when saw it. Chanceman SP.

"How?!"

But Alias was gone.

Looking at the chip Treble clutched it in his hands "An SP chip contains a large portion of a Navi's combat routines..." He said to Arthur. "With this... I can track down the ghost data!"

Arthur was quiet. "That is good... but what about Gregar? He was pretty clear then. Treble... if what he says is true..."

Treble sighed. "He's not lying. He never would. But I won't just accept it has to be that way! He said it was her targeting the drove her mad, right?"

"You need to accept it now, that it's entirely possible she's already gone, if she wasn't with them then." Said Arthur. "I really hope she hasn't, but..."

"No. I refuse to just give up!" Said Treble. "I've lost one friend today, I won't lose another. We're going to try and find Flare!"

"Very well. But if we find her... what will you do?" Said Arthur.

"Anything I can. I'll talk to her, I'll fight her if I have to! Maybe I can bug her targeting system?"

"It'll be protected. To even try something like that you'd need her vulnerable, and then the bug would be just as likely to damage her personality."

"Yes... but there's no more time to waste!" Said Treble, running out of the server. "We have to find her!" The net was wide and open, and Treble looked around, sniffing. "Damn, I can only smell Gregar... Flare hardly needs to touch the ground..."

"Something wrong?" Said a voice behind Treble. Treble spun to see a familiar Navi in grey armor.

"Ember?!" He said.

"That's me!" Said Ember.

"Wait, have you been following me?!" Treble didn't want to imagine Gregar's reaction if someone had eavesdropped.

"A bit. We got suspicious after there was a long howling sound from your area for a few minutes just after we gave you custody of a criminal. So... where'd he get away to?"

Treble looked to one side. "I... I don't know."

Ember sighed. "Alright, alright. Look, don't take this personally but I'm supposed to arrest you for that."

"What?! But I have to-"

"Don't worry, we listened in on that conversation. You have bigger fish to fry. And besides... we know roughly where Flare is from our intelligence networks. Get your NetOp and anyone he can bring down to the station, we'll work together for this!"

"Don't let Gregar know you listened in!" Said Treble.

"Safe with me. Now hurry!" Said Ember.

* * *

Arthur scrambled all three of his friends and himself. He vaulted onto his bike and began punishing the old pedals with his feet. The bike creaked and protested as it tore around corners to appraoch the local police station. For once, he was the first on the scene. He ran up to the doors and pushed them open, quickly looking around. Before he could go and ask the front desk who here operated Ember, a girl tapped his shoulder. He turned to see a girl with vibrant red hair and eyes smiling.

"Heya! The name's Blaze Kazuhaya, and it's nice to meet ya!"

"Arthur Penn. Are you Ember's NetOp?"

"It's a secret!" She said jokingly.

"Blaze, now is not the time." Said Ember sternly.

"Follow me, buddy!" Said Blaze, bouncing into a side room. Arthur stepped in to see several computers. Blaze swung the door shut.

"I'm not getting arrested, am I?" Said Arthur.

"No, no. Come look at this." Said Blaze, sitting down. "It's an official scan of the net."

Arthur looked at a large map of all the walkways. Most were light blue, but some were different colours. "I don't understand it. Does it show where everyone is?"

"No, but it can help you out!" Said Blaze. "Currently, my big bro is assigned to the case looking for the cybeasts, but I don't want him to have to face them unless we truly have to, so that's where you come in! You see this little dot here?" She pointed to a red blotch. "That's Falzar. We overheard that she might go crazy soon, and if she fights my bro, it might happen during the fight. We're totally sure she's still sane right now- So I was wondering if you could go in there and talk them out of fighting for a bit. Maybe even convice her to turn herself in!" Blaze said optimistically.

Arthur could almost see two palpable choices. Would Flare have a better chance of beating her own targeting with the officials or with Gregar? Gregar could contain her and stem the damage, but he couldn't solve the problem in the long term. The officials were the only other option, but could they really be counted on?

...Blaze, at least, seemed to trust him.

"Alright Treble, so here's what we'll do... We have to factor in a few things to make a plan here. First, we need to factor in Gregar and Alias. They'll show up if Flare's attacked, trust me."

"Flare?" Questioned Blaze. "Hehe, sounds like my counterpart."

"Oh, right." Said Arthur. "Falzar's been calling herself Flare. Anyway, if fighting breaks out then you'll be against three navis rather than one. You might have some info on Gregar, but Alias is like Gregar's... self-control. He's the only one I've seen actually talk Gregar down even a little. Anyway, Gregar's the stronger of the two, but Alias has a lot of firepower. Can your brother's team handle all three at once?"

"Tough call, I know my big bro can take on one beast alone, but his teammates aren't that powerful."

"Then fighting's not an option." Said Arthur. "We have to avert it. Treble, do you think you could convince Flare to stand down?"

Treble thought about it for a second. "I couldn't convince her to come with us. But I might be able to ask her to flee."

The doors to the room burst open. Denny strode in, leading Joe and William. "Here to help, Miss Kazuhaya." He said professionally.

"Hey there Denny! You're right on time!" Said Blaze. "With all of us here, I'm pretty sure we could take on the beasts in combat!"

"Don't count on it." Said Denny. "If you're going to fight both at once... have you seen the file where they engaged Bass? I know you like to snoop."

"Hey, how did you know I looked through the files?!" Protested Blaze. "But I've seen the video. You think we can't beat the transformation?"

"There's not a chance. Power aside, it healed all their wounds, so that means we'd have to effectively beat each one twice." Said Denny. "And more importantly, officer Burn wouldn't stand a chance. As strong as he is, if something like that fought him after he'd battled three other Navis... We need to capture each beast in a lightning-swift attack, or call off the search."

"We can't call off the search!"

"May I remind you who the official is here?" Said Denny. "You're exceptionally skilled, Blaze, but your brother is the family's true official, not you."

"Wait." Said Arthur. "Let's focus on the task at hand: Getting this mess untangled. Blaze... did you pass on what you overheard to your brother yet?"

"Nope!" Said Blaze. "I wanted to get you over here so I could try and find a way to help him out."

Denny crossed his arms. "In light of the information I've gathered, I think I can justify telling him not to go after Flare for now."

Arthur sighed. "Whew. In that case, we just have to worry about SheepMan for now. I hope he hasn't gotten himself deleted."

Blaze looked to one of the computers. "Ember, do we have any clue where that guy got to?"

"Nope, something lifted him off the ground about here." A section of pathway pinged. "He could be anywhere."

"Rats." Said Blaze.

Joe raised a hand. "If we're all here... Arthur, who is this girl?"

"Uh..."

Blaze looked happy enough to get a chance to talk. "I'm Blaze Kazuhaya, and it's good to meet you guys!"

Denny looked at the others. "Maybe I should introduce her. Blaze is the younger sister of Burn Kazuhaya, a high-ranking official. She lives in cyber city, but she often travels around. Blaze is honestly one of the most well-experienced netbattlers I know outside the elite ones like Chaud and Lan. She can explore the Undernet without many issues, and I'd say her NetBattle strength is actually a little above mine. She'll be joining into the officials as soon as she can, unless she changes her mind about her career path. Until then, she does do a lot of favours for us. I'll go stop Burn picking a fight he can't win. Personally, everyone... I think you could benefit from being friends with each other, even if there's no battle right now."

"Sounds good to me." Said Joe.

"Yeah! Plus I'm super-duper interested in hearing what you guys did to bring Euraisa to justice!" Said Blaze.

Arthur looked at his PET for a moment. "Hey, does Ember have a Cross system? None of us do, but I heard they were developed in Cyber city."

"Yep! Why do you ask?" Said Blaze, smiling like she knew exactly why Arthur asked.

"I think I should register Treble to you as a link Navi. If you'll be helping us clear up this mess with the cybeasts, then the ability to imitate his power should make life a little easier for you. And hey, maybe the rest of us could, too."

"I don't know if it's wise to fill out all the link slots in one go." Said Joe. "And even so... She has no idea how to operate Treble, and you can't operate her Navi."

"That's ok!" Said Blaze. "We can learn now, since big bro's going to be alright! Here, take this." She held out the PET to Arthur. Arthur passed his own over in return.

"So, who should learn to operate firs-?" Said Arthur.

"I'm so excited to try out Treble!" Squeaked Blaze. "I want to use the transformation!"

Ember chuckled. "There's your answer."

Arthur smiled. "Okay. Send him into the network and I'll give you some pointers."

Blaze pointed the sensor to the port. "Treble, let's burn!"

Treble appeared in the server. "Alright! Let's go find a couple of viruses!"

Arthur looked over Blaze's shoulder. "Okay, so Treble is a short-range fighter mainly, but he does have a buster if it's needed. He has a lot of speed, so even though his basic claws do a lot of damage, he still makes really good use of chips that might benefit from being used at close range, like Thunder, and most swords. Also, if you're operating him as a Link Navi, you'll be able to activate his personal chip, ElementBreath. It lets him breathe flames imbued with any element. Give it a try, now."

Treble picked out a couple of average-looking viruses, two Piranhas and a Swordy2.

Blaze expertly whipped out a chip. "MoonBlade!"

Treble easily dodged a spear, nimble on his feet, and darted in, twin kunai in his hands. With a quick _thwip_ they cut through the first Piranha easily, and Treble leapt straight for the next one. The Swordy2 charged him, trying to intercept but he slid under the cutting blade, and hit it with a powerful upper slash.

Blaze quickly checked a few chips in her hand and selected one. "Take a FireBurn!"

While the Swordy2 was off-balance, Treble popped up behind the remaining Piranha, chip loaded. The flamethrower made a satisfying whoosh as the Piranha was burned away. The Swordy2 was making a return trip, and Blaze slotted in the chip Arthur handed her. "ElementBreath, go for it!"

Treble took a deep breath and boiled the Swordy2 in blue fire. "All done!"

"Pretty good." Said Arthur.

Blaze smiled, then theatrically clapped a hand over her eye. "I forgot to try out that transformation thing you guys do..."

"No worries. Take these." Arthur passed Blaze the two other parts of the Origin PA. "Put the chips in in the order ElementBreath, BugCharge, and VariableSword."

Blaze held the Giga chip up to the light. "Wow, now that's a rare chip! Alrighty, ElementBreath! BugCharge! And VariableSword!"

"Program advance, Orig-IN!" Said Treble, the transformation cutting the last word in half. "THERE YOU GO! WANT TO GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO BLOW UP?"

Blaze just grinned. "I have a _way_ better idea. Can Ember stand on top of you?"

"SHE'LL GET BUGGED!"

"Aww. Hey, there's a Mettaur over there!" Said Blaze.

"THAT'S NOT GOING TO BE MUCH OF A CHALLENGE..."

"But it's the most overkill I can even imagine." Countered Blaze.

Ember smiled. "Arthur, send me in. I want to watch."

"Okay. Ember, hunt! ...I wonder if they make virtual popcorn? You could use some right now." Said Arthur. "Anyway, you probably won't spend too much time with Treble in this form, but like this he's got massively increased strength and defence, but he's not actually much faster in a fight. Chips will automatically convert to other attacks he can use."

"SO... YOU HAVE ONE ATTACK! BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY A METTAUR WILL SURVIVE ANYTHING I DO LIKE THIS!"

Blaze considered her chips. "Wow, tough choice... but Break type was always the coolest! AirHockey!"

The chip loaded and converted. Blaze had expected a panel-smashing attack, or a particularly heavy slam, but not Treble's head launching itself as a drill for a second. As predicted, the Mettaur didn't stand a chance.

Ember giggled. "Most overkill ever."

"Okay, I liked that! So, now I'll show you how to operate Ember." Said Blaze. "Ember's really fast at all times, and she can cut with the blades on her arms and legs. But she specialises in hit-and-run tactics, striking once and backing off to prepare the next attack. This also means that she's great for using ranged chips, even if she spends a lot of time in close quarters! And don't worry too much about broken panels, she can jump right over with enough speed. I mean, she can't fly, but those turbines on her back put out a ton of thrust!"

"I think I get it..." Said Arthur. "Let's go put it into practice."

"I SEE SOME VIRUSES OVER TH-ere. Oops, the timer ran out. I forgot it doesn't last long without the code..." Said Treble.

Ember set off a quick pace, skating. A FighterPlane and a PulseBulb2 came close.

"Okay, LongBlade in!" Said Arthur.

Ember's mask slid down, protecting her face as her turbines heated up. Without further warning, she shot forwards, holding the LongBlade out to the side. As the FighterPlane started to rev up, Ember whisked past, cutting it in two. A little '!' appeared on the front of the PulseBulb2. It moved to Ember's front, trying to cut her off.

"Hmm... Guard, and M-Cannon in!" Said Arthur.

"Guard is kind of awkward to use while moving." Explained Blaze. "M-Cannon is fine, though!"

"Discarding Guard." Said Ember seriously. She screeched to a halt just outside the PulsBulb's range, and fired. THe shot deleted the virus easily enough. She clicked her heels, dispelling the two wheels and rolled her mask up. "Well, I'd say that was good enough."

The two operators swapped their PETs back. Arthur went into a menu with Treble, and found a button. "Okay then. If you accept the request I just sent, Treble will become one of your linked navis. You'll gain his cross, and if Ember is ever out of action you can operate Treble temporarily."

"Done! Wow, thanks." Said Blaze.

"Hey, if Denny thinks we should be friends then I know we should be friends. Denny's not the sort to be wrong. Although for now, I'd better be on my way. It's been a crazy day." Said Arthur.

"Yeah. We'll keep an eye on Falzar over here, so you can go into your tournament without worrying. If she gets into trouble I'll make the officials call you."

"Oh, that's a huge relief. Well, bye for now! I'll watch your tournament match tomorrow!" Said Arthur.

* * *

"Again."

Crescendo leapt over a swing of a practice blade, narrowly dodged a stab at his chest and tried to bring his own sword up to make a cut. It was knocked out of his hands.

"Again."

He parried a blow, twisting to try and disarm his enemy. While normal blades couldn't be disarmed, literally replacing a navi's hand, his sparring partner was using a handheld piece of data. Nonetheless, he was promptly knocked off balance and thrown to his back.

"..."

Crescendo lay on his back. "I don't feel any stronger at all. What if I'm never going to be able to achieve my goal?"

"Get up."

Crescendo got up. "I'm not giving up. I'll become strong enough to beat the officials."

Bass sighed. "Your strikes lack form, and your buster aim is inaccurate, it lacks the power mine have to spray an area quickly. But I have a more important question- are you _truly_ a solo navi?"

"I operate alone!"

"... that's not what I meant. You can function alone, any navi can. But were you made to?"

"N-no..."

"I see. Then I will operate you."

"How is that even possible?!"

"..." Bass floated over to the pile of data in the corner of his page and touched it. All the pieces levitated, and arranged into a large curtain of different programs, a display of items Bass had come into posession of. He took several small coloured sets of blocks out. And then a strange program, some kind of receptacle. He floated back to Crescendo. "I will install these programs to raise your health and grant you new abilities. And... I will link you with this."

"What is that?"

"Part of a PET's operating system. It was designed for a taskforce to delete me- they thought that in case I blocked out their operator's PETs, they'd design a way for navs to send each other battlechips. Until I can find a way to remove that weakness... this will suffice."

 **Author's notes: A large scene in this was actually written by RushAlias for his story, and given to me (and at a much later date will appear in his story, in the POV I adapted it from). Why does everyone say it's so hard to co-ordinate writing with others? All you have to do is learn how to make compromises and check what you're doing with them.**

 **Aside from that, some notes on how I envisioned the cross system: The basic edition is avilable to anyone. It's not cheap, but as long as your Navi comes within certain limits, you too can have crosses! MegaMan and Lan have an improved version with a lot more slots for crosses, so it's possible for him to have the Falzar version's crosses and some of the Double Souls as crosses (Notably ProtoCross, RollCross and GutsCross. Can't go without those!).**

 **Reveiwer answers!  
**

 **RandayPandy: That is one of the best compliments I could have possibly gotten. SheepMan's not done yet, but don't count on seeing him for a while.**


	21. Chapter 21: Brothers

"Arthur, wake up or I'll email your father to wake you up!" Shouted Treble.

"I'm up... I'm.. ahhhhh... up."

"We're gonna be late for the tournament! Get down to the chip shop, quick!"

"OH, NO!" Shouted Arthur, suddenly awake for real. "How long do I have?!"

"It's like ten AM, you have to be there in twenty minutes!"

"Aaaagh!" Arthur quickly grabbed his chips off the computer's table. "How did I oversleep so much?! I never oversleep!"

"You were up kind of late worrying last night." Said Treble. "But for now, we have eighteen minutes! Go go go!"

"Going!" Arthur sprinted down the stairs two at a time, and exited the house as fast as his legs would carry him, shoes stuffed on haphazardly. "Treble, how long left?!"

"About fourteen minutes!"

Arthur kept running for another five. "Haa... okay, we're here..."

"Wow, eight minutes to spare. You could have had breakfast!" Said Treble.

"Breakfast is overrated. Come on, maybe there'll be a good chip for sale before the match starts." Arthur stepped in. The counter was closed. A few other people were already inside- a pair of technicians, a cameraman and Joe.

"Hey Joe!"

"Hey, Arthur. William couldn't make it, he has drill practice. And Denny is tied up keeping track of 'those' three. But we're all cheering for you!" Encouraged Joe.

"Well, I'll give it my all." Said Arthur.

The store's owner walked over. "This way. We've linked our netbattle machine to a corresponding machine, in another shop. If you send your navi through the link in the centre, you'll arrive at our online arena. Oh, and think of a few good lines to say for the cameraman over there! Best of luck, you're representing all Copperhill town."

"I'm ready. Treble, hunt!"

* * *

Treble logged into the machine. "Ahh, it's been too long since I've had a proper fight against a strong enemy! Let's do this, I'm starving for battle!" He set off at a run, following the link added to the machine's centre. It brought him out in a waiting area.

"Hey... we've got your health up to 745. One more BugFrag and you'll be halfway to the max." Noted Arthur.

"Oh yeah! Hey, I do feel pretty close to being able to spit out another chip, too... I wonder what it'll be?"

"I just hope it's one we can use. Honestly, we need to go and search out a lot more Bugfrags. We kind of fell behind with all the stuff going on."

"Get ready for me to give you a NaviRecycle." Said Treble jokingly. "The Giga chip that we literally couldn't be worse at using, since we don't use many attack plus chips and we can't use SP chips."

"Eh, a giga chip will still sell for a lot of money. We could use it to buy more bugfrags."

"Good idea!"

The exit to the waiting area opened. An announcer called "Contestants, please enter the arena!"

"You're up." Said Arthur. "Don't worry, I've got your back."

Treble stepped onto the warp. Instantly, he was on one side of a giant arena, thousands of navis in the stands around him. The tiled floor expanded out in a clear circle, curving around to his foe. Zero was, without a doubt, the one who'd fought with ProtoMan in the square so long ago. He'd lost, but the fact he'd even been able to put up a fight said he had enough skill to blow a regular navi off the map. He had sharp red armor covering his shoulders, alongside a protective chestplate, and a long yellow cape- wait, or was it meant to be hair? But what grabbed Treble's attention was his head. Aside from his helmet with a thorn-like crest towards the back, there was something... unnerving about his eyes. The irises glowed yellow with an almost _familiar_ light.

Treble pointed at him curiously. "You smell... like a virus? But you're clearly a Navi."

Zero carefully formed his blade, focused. "And you are a virus. That spends time as a Navi."

"How did you-"

The announcer drowned out whatever Treble had to say. "And now, from Copperhill town, we have TREBLE, and from Eastfall city, we have ZE-ROOOO! The battle begins in THREE!"

"TWO!" Shouted the crowd. "ONE!"

"FIGHT!"

Zero lowered his center of mass. "Ciel, watch over me!" He called, dashing forwards with his blade ready.

Treble was the faster Navi, but Zero was upon him first. His fighting style was best described as merciless. It took the best elements of MathMan's calculated swordplay and seamlessly melded them with the ruthless bloodlust all viruses had. Treble weaved past the long triangular arm blade, trying to get a cut in, but Zero's defences were absolute. Treble felt like he was looking for a hole in a brick wall, and even with his amount of speed Zero was already closing in on his space, making it difficult to keep moving.

"Guard, Thunder, and LongBlade in!" Said Arthur.

Treble raised the guard instantly, as Zero brought down his blade, but to his horrified amazement Zero managed to stop his swing before it conected. The guard disappeared after a second, and in desperation Treble launched the Thunder. Zero's blade cut into him, but he was able to get the Thunder out even as he flinched. At point-blank, Zero couldn't hope to avoid it, and had his follow-up attack cancelled by the paralysis. Treble wasted no time in forming the LongBlade, and put all his strength into a cut at Zero's chest. While it clearly hurt him, his armor was far too tough to go down to one blow. Treble backed off, as Zero broke out of the paralysis and made a swing that would have devastated him if he was any closer.

"Phantasm!" Shouted Zero, and he quickly swung his sword forwards. A powerful sonic boom detached from his blade, soaring towards Treble. It was exceptionally wide , without any hope of sidestepping. Treble just snarled and did the only thing he could think to do- he swiped at the arc, hoping to break it. It was weakened by the attack, but most of it hit Treble with enough force to sweep him off his feet. Zero was already off at a run, leaping into the air and suddenly kicking off nothing to launch himself down towards Treble, sword outheld.

"BugAura, in!"

Treble activated the Aura just in time to prevent Zero landing on him. Zero nimbly kicked off the aura, landing across, and dashed for Treble fearlessly. Treble was wary, using the Aura to try and find a weak point while Zero found a way to break it. He tensed, and sprung just as Zero mde an upwards slash at him. To his amazement, the Aura held, while his claws managed to find their mark on Zero's waist. A HP bug was created.

Zero backed off. "An Aura's large size makes it easier to hit with multiple attacks at once, shattering it. Nonetheless... I need more attack!" There was a slight rumble as Zero's red armor suddenly changed colour, to black. Treble had already been moving for him, trying to capitalise on Zero's moment of vulnerability, but then Zero sliced with his blade. A stationary arc appeared, and Zero sliced again to form a cross shape. Both suddenly moved off and even though Treble dodged to one side, the Aura was too large. The two powerful cuts broke it.

"Treble, his health halved when he changed colour! Sword, WideSword, LongSword! Program advance: SoulSword!"

Zero engaged Treble immediately, faster and deadlier despite the reduced health he'd taken on. His blade flashed, and Treble suddenly staggered back, a deep gash on his shoulder. Then the program advance registered. Zero was already moving in to make a finishing blow, and Treble didn't try to dodge this time.

The crowd went wild when at the last second, Zero's attack was knocked away by a ferocious SoulSword, cleanly hitting him as well. Treble had suddenly broken through Zero's barrage of attacks and in a single, decisive blow, swung the battle to his side.

Zero staggered. Halved health was not playing in his favour, and he'd finally lost the oppressive advantage he'd been holding that forced Treble to play defensively. But he still held himself with deadly poise. Treble was upon him within the blink of an eye, and it was all he could do to fend off the nearly invisible strikes. He tried to use a shield to block and slash, but Treble was on a roll, even when the shield stopped his attack and Zero slashed, he was able to counter and hit Zero again. Zero stepped back, and made one desperate thrust with his blade.

Treble felt the Z-saber pierce his chest, but he'd already won. He was knocked back a little by the force, but Zero was far worse for wear, the attack his thrust had let through having ripped through his last lot of hit points. Zero dropped to one knee. "I am beaten."

Treble kept a hand over his stab wound. "Haha... you fought well! I really enjoyed that." He said, sounding genuinely happy.

"...You are... perhaps not a virus. You have far too much emotion." Said Zero. "Urgh... Can someone remove this HP bug? I cannot resist it forever."

A couple of healers ran over, and started repairing the wounds on each navi. The announcer cheered with the crowd. "And we have a victor! Treble has triumphed over Zero, and will proceed to the next round!"

* * *

"You did good out there." Said Arthur, walking out of the shop. "Whoever that Zero was, he was really tough."

"Yeah, but..." Treble looked around. "I can still smell him here! And I don't know why."

"Um... but why?"

"It's like there's something in the PET that's a part of him..." Treble kept looking around. He eventually looked at one of the corners, narrowed his eyes and grabbed at thin air.

A red orb became visible.

"What on earth?!" Said Arthur. "Where did that come from? What is that?"

"I think it's Zero's. It's what smells of him, anyway. It's some kind of virus... but not one for actually disrupting things. I think... it's some kind of camera? Or maybe a microphone?"

"Maybe he was trying to spy on us. I'm not sure what for, but until then, don't destroy that. Maybe we can use it somehow."

"Okay. So... wow, you know I really DO feel a lot better after that. Maybe we should go do something fun before the cybeasts make another mess for us?" Said Treble jokingly.

"You'll jinx it. Anyway, let's go and see how Ember and Blaze got on. Maybe we couldn't watch live or anything, but I bet someone will have posted a video already. And maybe we should just go and hunt for some BugFrags? You enjoy that and it makes us stronger."

"What first?"

"Well, you won the fight, so I'll let you choose unless you don't want to."

"Let's go grab some BugFrags while we can. They'll show Ember's match on the TV later."

* * *

"Got another one! Wow, normally we wouldn't have two by now!" Said Treble, sending a fourth BugFrag to the PET.

"Today has been a pretty good day, honestly. We won our tournament match, you've found a couple of BugFrags, and the beasts have been quiet. Maybe I should go and use the chip trader? We have a bunch of C-coded reflectors, and I'm literally never going to use them."

"What's the difference between Reflector and Guard, anyway?"

"Guard is an older edition, you can't actually get it anymore. Also the shockwave it sends does less damage and travels slower, but has the Break element."

"Huh. Neat. Are there any other outdated chips?"

"Not that I know of. I just got curious myself. Speaking of curiosity, why aren't you eating the BugFrags as soon as you get them?"

"I want to see how many I can fit in my mouth at the same time." Said Treble happily.

"You'll give yourself a- wait, you can't get a stomach ache. Well, go ahead then I guess."

"Aw yeah. Hey, look over there! Some more viruses!"

"Go get 'em!" Encouraged Arthur.

Treble had an easy time tearing apart a few Craggers. They were defensive, and defence was a great counter to quick foes, but you had to be able to actually hit your enemy to do damage.

"Meh, a bit too easy. Let's go back to the Undernet for a bit. The real Undernet, not the old one. Maybe get some directions off Denny to go to one of those places PlugMan mentioned?"

"You've given me a better idea." Said Arthur. "Now that the fights are over, Denny will have a break from monitoring the beasts. And William should be getting back from drill practice, and Joe's available anyway. Lets get everyone together and try to get into the next room of the secret area. All of us have improved a lot since we first set foot in there."

"I like it! You message them, I'll get over to the warp pad."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, all four of the friends were stepping into the secret area.

"How long has it been since us four got together?" Said Treble.

"Too long, my ally." Said ArsenalMan.

PlugMan looked around and sighed. "This place don't feel right to me."

"Don't fret. We'll work as one." Said MathMan. "So... you mentioned you defeated another of this place's guardians while we were gone. In that case, there's only one left if what we know is correct."

"It's probably over there!" Said Treble, pointing at the area he had yet to explore. "I wonder what kind of virus it'll be?"

"I theorise it's going to be some kind of cannon. We've had a Mettaur and a Swordy, two common viruses. The last of the most common three are cannons. While there are a few variations, like the CanGuard and the Gunner, Cannons are still a thing." Said ArsenalMan.

"A cannon would be kind of lame though. I mean, how's it even going to be worse than a regular old cannon? It can't actually turn to shoot at us." Said Treble.

"Hey now, I ain't gonna complain about it being easy." Drawled PlugMan.

"There's no need to act dumb right now." Reminded MathMan. "I'm going to guess it'll be a ranged attacker, since the other one was melee. So... maybe a Bunny?"

They filed along the marble walkway. A few times the path branched, but ultimately there was only one way to follow. Treble had taken the front, as the most likely to detect a threat.

"Hey, I smell something."

"Is it the virus?" Asked PlugMan.

"Hmm. Maybe?" Said Treble.

"Whoever's most durable should go first. Are you going to transform?" Said MathMan. "If not, then I have the best defences of us four."

"Like I'm passing up a chance to transform." Said Treble. "You know what to do, Arthur!"

The three navis took a step back as Treble transformed, filling up almost all the available space.

"Mind your tail!" Called MathMan, narrowly avoiding getting batted away.

"HEY, YOU TRY SQUEEZING INTO A CORRIDOR MEANT FOR NAVIS WHEN YOU'RE THIS BIG! ANYWAY, I'M GOING FORWARDS!" GS-Treble put one paw forwards onto a square, and immediately a shiny golden Heady appeared, with a pure white aura. A pair of rubies were set into its eye sockets.

MathMan crouched to get a look at it. "HeadyL. L for life, I suppose?"

ArsenalMan gave a test shot, that harmlessly bounced off the aura. "Well, the aura's above 80."

MathMan kept analysing. "I estimate it at... 200. PlugMan, have Denny load NorthWind-"

Arthur was already slotting it in. "Way ahead of you guys."

Treble roared at the HeadyL, blowing a powerful gust of air over it. The Virus responded in kind by delivering a flying headbutt. Treble snapped his mouth shut to defend against the shot, and then was given a nasty reminder that Heady heads are Break element, the vaporwave-esque face slamming into him with enough force to hurt through his armor.

Arthur watched Treble's 1490 health plummet down to 990.

"DESTROY IT! QUICK!" Yelled Treble. "ARTHUR, GIVE ME SOME ATTACKS!"

"On it! Thunder, CornShot1 in! Converting to breath weapons!"

PlugMan floated over the top of Treble, and threw a few arcs of electricity. ArsenalMan started firing, spraying the area with damage. Joe loaded MathMan's Pi gun and let him fire away.

Treble appreciated the support, but the Heady was far from deleted. He took a deep breath and let loose a whole storm's worth of electricity, the Heady unable to dodge. It was left in bad shape, but being a virus attacked again without any caution. PlugMan shot it with a ZapRing, and that was all the time Treble needed to take another breath and blow a gale of green, leafy fire over the virus.

It did the slow-deletion thing the other two viruses had done, dropping a chip and yet another golden BugFrag.

"OOOH, LOOT!" Said Treble. "WHAT'S IN THE CHIP?"

MathMan carefully crawled underneath Treble to get to the front where the other navis were. ArsenalMan slid down Treble's head, and PlugMan just floated down.

ArsenalMan picked it up. "AuraHead3 *."

"That chip is a good fit for you." Commented MathMan. "There aren't that many good ranged break attacks, and you can't fight in close-quarters. Besides, me and Treble have already had chips from these 'great' viruses. And PlugMan has an almost complete library."

"...Yeah. Still missing WoodDragon and NeoVariableSword." Said PlugMan. "Anyway. Treble, open up." He picked up the gold BugFrag, and pitched it like a baseball.

Treble did manage to open his mouth in time for the high-speed data to fly in. It caught on the side of his mouth, taking some coolness out of PlugMan's throw, but it made it in. "HEY, WHO WANTS A CHIP?" He sat, and looked down. "HUH, I FEEL KIND OF WEIRD ACTUALLY." He made a small coughing motion. All three navis stepped back, again. "H-AHH!" He spat, the chip coming out fast. "WOW, THAT FEELS MUCH BETTER! AND I STILL FEEL A BIT DIFFERENT. LIKE I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING..."

MathMan picked up the chip and looked quietly.

"Huh?" PlugMan leaned over to see what MathMan had seen."

ArsenalMan walked around to get a look at it, and just sighed. "Well, what do you know."

"WHAT IS IT, YOU GUYS?"

MathMan turned it around. "BugCurse. We can't use it."

"OH. WELL THEN, I GUESS THAT'S FOR ME!"

"Yeah, just don't use it on us. Seriously, this thing is the worst to get hit by." Said PlugMan.

"That door ought to be openable now." Said MathMan. "I think we ought to go and check it out."

"GOOD IDEA!" Treble took a rather direct path, leaping between three walkways to return to the centre. He dropped out of his original form, and sat down. "Hey, Arthur? Send me those four BugFrags from the PET, I never got around to eating them."

"Sure thing. Here you go. Don't try opening that door until the others get back... it was kind of reckless to just leave them."

Trreble suddenly had his hands full. "Now, let's see..."

"Are you really going to-"

Treble already had two balanced on his jaw, moving the third one in. He was just able to balance it there, but putting in the fourth caused the first to get knocked back down his throat. He shrugged, and bit down.

"Wow, today was a good day for your max health. From 745 to 815. You're actually getting pretty tough to kill."

"I still have a way to go before I get to 1500, though. And... I still feel a little different to normal. I think the next time I transform... I feel like I'll be stronger in a big way."

The other three found thier way back quickly enough. "You could have given me a lift." Said ArsenalMan.

"Never mind that for now. The door." Said MathMan.

"Yes... we must push onwards while we can. We don't have a lot of time before everything starts going badly again, trust me." Said PlugMan.

"Alright then!" Treble walked over to the door. "We've shown our power!"

The door was quiet for a second. "You may pass!" It announced, disappearing.

"Be careful, everyone." Said PlugMan. "I see a suspicious square ahead."

The four walked up to it cautiously, and suddenly the entire area dimmed. "Oh!" Said Treble. "Looks like you were right!"

The darkness before them coalesced, and a navi formed. They had purple armour and a black suit, seeming to hover there with a fanged smile on thier pale face.

PlugMan choked. "It can't be! You!?"

ShadeMan gave a slight bow. "Ah, lost brother. It has been a while. And now, with the DarkPower nearly gone and Nebula destroyed... it may not be much longer, either. But! I am bound to Serenade now. I will delete ten thousand navis who would enter the secret area beyond that which Serenade has invited them by word, and in return, will recieve my only wish. The creation of new DarkPower, that I may return again when I fall."

"The DarkPower was evil! We were borne of it brother, and so were all our other brothers! But it cannot be brought back, not even for the simple purpose of resurrection! You must realise that! Stand out of our way!" Said PlugMan desperately.

"You are no brother to the Darkloids."

"...This is my fight, and my fight alone!" Said PlugMan. "Stay back."

Treble moved to stand by PlugMan, but MathMan put a hand in front of him. "He's serious."

Treble looked at MathMan in desperation. "We can't just let him fight alone! That's-"

"He'll never forgive himself if he doesn't." Said MathMan.

There was one brief second as lightning struck where ShadeMan had been standing, leaping from PlugMan's body.

ShadeMan moved quickly, throwing several pulses of sound at PlugMan. PlugMan shifted out of the way, charging more and more power in his body. He started dashing towards ShadeMan, arcs of energy leaping to the floor. He produced a GunDelSol3.

"TAIYOH!" Shouted PlugMan, trying to burn ShadeMan. But ShadeMan moving in and quickly swiped with a clawed hand, perhaps not as deadly as Treble but enough to knock the GunDelSol away. PlugMan responded by shocking him with thousands of volts of power, blowing him back a bit. ShadeMan's arms morphed into wings, and several bats flew from dark holes in the area, homing in on PlugMan. PlugMan continued to project and electrical field, and with a surging blast deleted all the incoming bats. He let a thick, metal wire fall into his hand, and brandished it for a second before charging at ShadeMan.

ShadeMan just smiled devilishly, and dodged the swing of the cable, responding with a terrible pulse of loud noise that made PlugMan flinch. Before PlugMan could shake it off, ShadeMan twisted behind him, a grey blade replacing one of his hands.

"Dark Sword."

The DarkChip tore away many of the cables that made up PlugMan, knocking him over forwards. He didn't move for a second.

"You were never going to surpass me. I almost regret using that on you- agh!"

A cable had coiled around ShadeMan's ankle. Before ShadeMan could try to cut it away, PlugMan was on his feet, and he drew ShadeMan in close. "Never monologue until your foe is deleted!" He shouted, discharging through ShadeMan and loading a DrillArm. ShadeMan was somewhat tied by the cable now, and was unable to dodge a point-blank hit from the drill. He snapped out of the cable, and threw another noise crush, but PlugMan had already won the fight. He moved in and blasted another wave of power out of his body, shocking ShadeMan into paralysis, and then finally loaded a sword of his own- a LifeSword. It flashed, cutting ShadeMan in half at the waist. ShadeMan wasn't deleted, at a mere sliver of health and paralysed he collapsed.

PlugMan walked over and knelt. "I'm so sorry."

"N-never monologue until... your foe... is deleted..." Said ShadeMan. "Heh..."

"The darkloids will always be my brothers- even if I fled before I could meet any but you. Why? Why couldn't you have just let the DarkPower go?" Said PlugMan.

"We... _are_ the DarkPower. You... will die without it." Said ShadeMan. "We can't become navis. Once... our... d-darkpower is gone... we... d-disappear..."

'ShadeMan deleted.'

"..." PlugMan stood. "I'll follow you in deletion then, brother. My will is my own." He turned to the rest of the group. "Let's push on. There's no time to waste."

"You... you can take time to mourn if you want to." Said MathMan.

PlugMan just stared at Treble. "In four hours, the officials are making an attempt to capture Flare. I advised against it, because the risks are so great, but the chief wants results. You won't be able to get in thier way without getting Arthur arrested, but I want you to come with us. If she loses her mind... you're our best bet at delaying the destruction until MegaMan or ProtoMan can arrive."

"I can't just stand there and let the people I care about fight each other!" Said Treble.

"You have to. It's the only way you can protect them both." Said PlugMan. "But I'm serious. We have to push ahead now, because the second Flare's touched everything is going to directly to hell. I've warned the chief, but..." he shook his head, and started walking towards the next area.

Treble looked at MathMan and ArsenalMan in panic. "Guys, there must be something we can do!"

Arthur sighed. "PlugMan's right. The only way you can hope to protect both our friends in the officials and Flare is to watch from the sidelines. If worst comes to worst... you can stop a blow that might delete her."

"I hate that you're right." Said Treble. "But fine. We should prepare, but... PlugMan's already gone ahead." He followed him into the second part of the Secret Area.

The second part resembled the first, but a few navis could be seen. Each were wrapped in ragged cloth that made them seem like a survivor of a calamity, but they walked towards the group, interested. One came up to Treble.

"Hello... we are the dwellers of the secret area, those few invited to live here. We will not impede your quest... If you seek Serenade, then know that not all paths are visible..." They said, before floating away.

Treble looked out. The area was an archipelago of small white pathway sections, each joined by what he assumed were invisible bridges. "Are you ever really glad we can't fall off the walkways without trying to?"

"Let's push on. PlugMan's already made some headway." Said MathMan.

"Hold, ally. If this is a maze... we could get lost in it. And we cannot log out in this area. It would be best if Treble retreated, to prepare to intervene at the official attempt to capture Flare."

MathMan nodded. "You go with him, your ranged firepower is more anonymous than my blade if something goes _truly_ wrong. I'll stay here and make sure PlugMan doesn't get reckless in his grief."

* * *

Treble and ArsenalMan thouroughly searched around the area where the beasts had been sighted, looking for any hint of the officials.

"You don't think PlugMan was lying about this, so he could be alone?" Said Treble.

"You don't trust him?" Said ArsenalMan.

"I- well, I was never good at lies. I believe he has our best interests at heart, but he could lie to any of us with a straight face. You've seen how well he acts"

"It's a valid point... but would he risk hurting you that much? We know you've taken quite a shine to Flare, after she saved me." Said ArsenalMan.

"I owe her your life. Not the same thing as owing my life personally, but I'm in her debt to a value equal to one life. And... she's also pretty nice." Explained Treble.

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on her? You always react strongly when you learn she's in danger." Said ArsenalMan.

"A... what, now?"

"A crush."

"What's that?"

ArsenalMan sighed. "How do I explain that?"

Arthur looked at the screen. "Romantic feelings. You know, like..."

"I _don't_ know, what on earth is a crush?! Seriously, I don't know! Nobody told me and I'm pretty sure my bugs deleted the knowledge that I started with!" Said Treble, exasperated.

"Okay, basically... do you know... you know how you're friends with ArsenalMan and MathMan and PlugMan?" Said Arthur.

"Yeah."

"Well... imagine... imagine liking them enough you'd be willing to spend literally all your free time with them."

"I do anyway?"

"Okay... wrong example... but basically, a crush is someone... you think would be a good lifelong partner for you, I guess? I mean, there's way, way, way more to it than that, but it's kind of complicated."

"Look, from how you're describing it all three of my friends count as my crush, but you make it sound like I can only have one!" Said Treble.

"It's someone you would consider starting a family with!" Blurted Arthur. "And I know that that doesn't apply to Navis, but seriously I don't know how else to describe it."

"Ooookay. So, doesn't that make it more of a human thing?"

"Just... never mind. You can research it later. For now, let's focus on making sure Flare gets through this in one piece." Said Arthur.

"Yeah, you're right." Said Treble. "ArsenalMan, any hint of the officials?"

"They're by there." Said ArsenalMan, pointing far into the distance. "We need to get closer, and hide somewhere we won't be seen."

"Treble." Said Arthur. "Promise me now, that you won't intervene unless you're sure Flare or one of the officials is about to be deleted."

"I promise."

"Thanks... Alright, let's do this." Said Arthur. "I'm loading an invis chip so you can get close, but remember they don't last long at all so only activate it if you must. And Also, here's Guard, so you can intercept an attack without getting hurt yourself. Man, why would anyone make a chip have X as the code? I've literally never seen that letter on ANY other chip."

"...William has an AntiNavi with that code. We've never used it. X is generally reserved for chips that are extremely special, and should be used alone. We don't have any like that." Said ArsenalMan.

Treble padded closer, and found a path to an area he could hide, relatively high up. Without the need to worry about fall damage, he reasoned he could drop down with the Guard up to intercept a deleting blow. He peeped over the edge, watching a heavily-armored navi oversee the setup of a trap. He noted two Navis were given orders to prime thunder chips, two were given hammers, and another...

"I don't trust that one." Whispered Treble. "He smells funny, like he was coded by someone else. I'm sure I remember that smell from somewhere, in fact..." He watched as they were instucted to set themselves up behind the link with a Fan chip, to suck Flare in close.

The overseeing Navi, who Treble caught the name of as SteamMan, didn't actually seem all that happy about setting up a trap. Treble listened closely, overhearing what he was saying.

"...doesn't feel right. It's our duty as officers to uphold the law, but... Our evidence just isn't strong enough. Why is this operation being pushed so much? ...you're right, Burn. We're only going to capture, so if we've got them unjustly, then no lasting harm will be done."

Treble looked out further, getting a good view of SteamMan. He had a tall and muscular design, very bulky red armor, and heavy gauntlets with two massive steel pipes coming out of the back. Treble couldn't make out much more while atop the vantage point, but noticed he had a sharp red crest, that he could have sworn he'd seen before somewhere... Wait, wasn't SteamMan Ember's brother? His thoughts were interrupted as all the officials tensed, when SteamMan gave two short claps. That must have signalled the operation was starting.

Arthur's heart trembled, watching Treble. If he misjudged this...

Flare walked out of the link, and before she could say a word two officials jumped her, casting thunder. Without any chance to dodge, the orbs hit, paralysing briefly. Even while flinching, she had the presence of mind to start flying upwards, but then the two hammer-weilding officials leapt out, striking at her wings. Flare crashed into the ground, getting to her feet as SteamMan used a BubbleStar of some kind, encasing her. He started to walk forwards. "Flare. In the name of the law, you are under arrest. You may come as you are, or we will be forced to knock you out."

Treble couldn't hear if Flare was saying anything, because he was falling. The suspicious one had moved, and at this point Flare was effectively captured anyway. It was clear the officials were prepared for anything she could do. Treble landed, guard up, just as the suspicious Navi fired a DestinyPulse. Despite the piercing nature of the attack, Treble had caused him to panic and fire too early.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Yelled SteamMan. Treble expected he was going for the suspicious navi, but a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Still disoriented from the blast, he looked up at SteamMan. "This is a critical operation! You're also under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, and we'll discharge you quickly if we find you're inno-"

Treble roughly pushed past him, and caught the LifeSword the suspicious Navi was about to swing in an awkward hold. He snarled.

SteamMan turned quickly. "Officer Cromwell...? What..."

Cromwell kicked Treble away and swung the sword. "DIE, Beast!"

Treble knew it wouldn't be enough to delete, but it would leave him at 15 health and that could be enough if he had anything else loaded. And was Flare still in range?! He braced for impact. It never came.

SteamMan was holding Cromwell up by the chest, LifeSword pressed uselessly against his side. "I had my suspicions... that you were not the real Cromwell! Take off that disguise!"

'Cromwell' struggled, and then shimmered. A navi in a mockery of a police uniform appeared, cap shading their eyes to black. "I've failed..."

SteamMan glared at him hard. "Who are you? Where's Cromwell?"

"I'm... FakeMan. Look, guv, I didn't want to-"

"Do what?" Said SteamMan. "Delete her? Stab me in the back? Put the entire official force to shame?"

"N-no, guv! I was forced! Ya gotta believe me!" Said FakeMan.

"I'll interrogate you later. For now, you are also under arrest... and you... I don't know if I can trust you, dropping in front of our target-"

"Sir, he was protecting her from a DestinyPulse advance. While she's in a bubble and weak to elec, that would have deleted her. I'm confident he's on our side." Said another official who'd had a different angle.

"Then you're free to go, and I thank you for what you've done for us. The safety of the net hinged on this capture." Said SteamMan.

Treble looked back to where Flare had been in a bubble. "Wow, you guys are efficient..." He murmured. The bubble was already gone.

"NO!" shouted SteamMan. "We didn't move her out, she's escaped!"

"Oh..." Said Treble. He wasn't sure if he was worried or relieved. But either way... the capture had failed.

"...For now, I'm returning to the station. Let's hope FakeMan co-operates..." Said SteamMan, logging out. The other officials followed him.

Treble decided on worried. "Flare..."

 **Author's notes: On September 18th, the day after my birthday, I'll be starting an apprenticeship and my time to write will go way down. I'd never abandon a story, but updates will be slower. So have a slightly upsized chapter to conpensate!  
**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **Guest: Trill is indeed Crescendo, and he's honestly just a little crushed under the weight of the responsibility he was given from the moment he existed. Honestly I've been reading nothing but fanfiction for over three years, going through about 100K words a day, but I used to like Cherub(series) and Percy Jackson. On the matter of Treble's maturity, while he's emotionally relatively mature, getting serious whenever needed, he has got some pretty childlike gaps in his knowledge.**

 **RushAlias: Indeed, but the surprise isn't from Flare.**


	22. Chapter 22: Wrath of God

Treble returned to the PET. "That was close."

"Hey, you did good there. Seriously. Flare might've been deleted if you hadn't done that. I'm proud of your judgement." Said Arthur.

"Aw, thanks!"

"But, we can't rest now. I'd bet a chip that the second Gregar finds out Flare was attacked, he's going to go crazy."

"...Yeah, we'd better try and find him before he goes and does something stupid." Said Treble.

"Well then, Treble, hunt!" Said Arthur.

Treble logged into his homepage, and looked around. "Zero camera thing. I smell it."

"He's probably looking for the one that got left in the PET. Want me to send it out?"

"Yeah, sure thing." Treble held out his hands as the small red orb appeared. "Hey, Zero, we've got your thing here! Be more careful next time you try and spy on someone."

A second red orb appeared in one of the corners of the area. Unlike the previous one, it had a small grille like a speaker on the front. It floated down. "This is Zero speaking. I must ask you to come to the old BBS you share with your friends, urgently. You do not need to bring my viruses with you."

"Huh? He can talk through these?"

"Not all of them. I would ask you do not destroy my viruses. While they answer to me, I cannot replace them. Now, I need you to hurry. A lot depends on this."

"It can't be more important than being ready to counter Gregar." Said Arthur. "Even if this matters a lot to him, we'll have to make Zero wait."

"Yeah. Look, Zero... If you've got these things watching me, then you know I can't come help you now!"

"I am aware you stand against Gregar. I wish to show you something that may help you both."

Arthur frowned. "If he's got these cameras tracking you... maybe he's tracking Gregar, too."

"Are you going to show show me where Gregar will attack?"

"I'm going to show you where he will _be_ attacked. Hurry, please."

* * *

Treble sprinted into the Old Undernet. "Zero? Zeeerooo?"

"I'm here." Said Zero, stepping out from behind the BBS. "I've set up watch outside, so I'll know if anyone is going to come in here. Now, there's no time." Zero bowed his head and held his arms to each side. "See through my thousand eyes." A large video feed appeared.

Treble saw Gregar in the Undernet. A familiar white Navi was on the ground before him.

"Crescendo? This... is this happening right now?!" Treble whispered.

Gregar reached down, offering a hand up, and then suddenly there was a powerful blast between the two, knocking them both away a bit. Bass floated down, between the two.

"That's it. _Now_ I'm mad." Growled Gregar. He attacked Bass without any further warning, making fast and heavy swings with his claws, but Bass was like a mirage, never in the same place for more than a moment. Gregar just couldn't hit him. Eventually, Gregar tried to make a tackle, arms outstretched, but Bass phased out of reality for a second, and Gregar landed roughly on his feet. Before he could balance himself again, Bass whipped out his buster and shot him in the back, knocking him down to one knee from the sheer force.

Before Gregar could get up, Bass lunged forwards and grabbed his tail, drove one foot into the floor as a pivot, and threw Gregar like an olympic hammer. Treble watched him crash into an unsuspecting FighterPlane and delete it. To Gregar's credit, he sprung back up more enraged than injured. Bass held his hands to the side briefly, and then threw a pair of Hell'sRollings at him, the dark cycles tearing apart the floor. Gregar just frowned at them, and used an AreaSteal to warp past them the moment they were in range.

Bass smirked, the Zero virus providing clear zoom and high definition, enough to hear Bass say something softly. "You like the idea of deleting him, don't you? Well, he's not getting deleted today. He's not strong enough." Bass' eyes flashed red. "G-gah." His hand flew to the centre of his chest. For a brief moment he lost his balance, and then Gregar reappeared behind him.

"You haven't gotten through him yet, Falzar!" Gregar shouted. A FlameHook advance was activated, a pair of tremendous fists materialising either side of Bass, each twice the size of him. They flew off of thier own accord, each slamming Bass for several hundred points of damage. That seemed to be enough to snap Bass out of his confusion. He spun, glaring at Gregar. "Don't you give me that look! You shot first!" Accused Gregar.

A golden Aura came to life around Bass, and Gregar responded in kind with his own aura. They charged, Bass pulling out his Darkness blade and Gregar readying his claws. They locked attacks for a second, throwing each other back, and then quick as the blink of an eye, loaded yet more powerful blades, Bass empowering his Darkness blade to gain a malefic glow, and Gregar activating a SoulSword. They each leapt and clashed the blades, mirroring each other's moves and then each drawing back for a a blow that would have deleted almost any normal navi in one hit. Upon contact, both swords exploded, and thier auras died out. The two were forced back with heavy injuries, Gregar's feet drawing a few parallel grooves into the floor where the claws had been dug in. Bass wasted no time forming a minature sphere of energy in his hands and throwing it, the micro Earth Breaker blasting Gregar with the force of a tank cannon. Gregar was bowled over, and Bass launched a single giant Hell'sRolling, that Treble noted seemed to be a dark shade of red rather than the normal blue-black. Gregar stood defiantly, even as his armor was in ruins he blazed with raw fury and fierce dignity.

Bass suddenly dropped to the floor, flinching. "You will... NOT... control... ME!" He said through gritted teeth, before a GigaCannon hit him squarely in the face. He was knocked into the air limply, but then there was a sound like a thunderclap. A deep red aura came to life around him, and he donned armor that Treble now realised was a twisted parody of Flare's combat form. He'd entered his beast out.

Gregar summoned back his SoulAura, and looked at Bass with contempt in his red eyes. "You're nothing more than a fool- Enslaved by the power you try to control!"

"And that's why..." Bass said, voice like sandpaper. "I must absorb you. Your power will counteract hers!" Treble realised he was about to do something he almost never did. Bass was about to stop holding back. The red aura around him surged like it had been fed a million volts, and he threw six red Hell'sRollings at Gregar before pulling out the Falzar buster and unloading a wide stream of feathers at Gregar.

But then, Gregar dodged four of the wheels and clawed two out of the way like they were nothing. It was like entering beast out had... reduced Bass' power. "You're clashing with her! Your powers are fighting each other!" Yelled Gregar. He formed his buster, a heavy piece, and dropped down to one hand for stability. It blazed faster than anything else Treble had seen, the concentrated barrage of shots overpowering the spread of the Falzar buster. And Bass was so wrapped up trying to win the fight in his mind he couldn't dodge, Gregar's ultra-heavy buster tearing into his aura. Bass retracted his arm, and Gregar pulled out something else. A golden Vulcan. But that wasn't all. His feet and hands took on a metallic golden sheen, indicating DoublePoint had been activated. Gregar shouted in pure rage, and almost seemed to radiate fury as he let loose with the devastating combo. Bass tried to dash forwards, but this caused two pellets to hit at the same time, and his aura shattered. The rest of the attack hit, and paralysed on contact, so a WhiteCapsule must have been added too. Gregar crackled with elec power for a second, then dashed for the paralysed Bass and gave him a powerful punch infused with power, backflipping away. And then Gregar did something Treble didn't expect.

"Behold my wrath!" He cried, and there was a tremor he could feel even through the Zero virus.

Treble looked in confusion. "Beast Over? Why would he do that?! When it expires he'll be exhausted!"

But then Bass reacted in kind, starting to glow.

Arthur sat up in realisation. "He's forcing Bass to Beast Over as well! If they're both exhausted... Gregar has the better chance!"

FalzarBass was clearly stronger. It was an understatement to say that Gregar was getting a lot of use out of his brief invulnerability. Bass grabbed him by the throat and flew at low altitude, crushing him along the floor and through many harmful panels. Then he threw Gregar straight up, high into the air, and summoned a tornado around himself. Bass leapt up too and grabbed one of Gregar's legs, and threw him down into the ground with enough force to make a crater. Bass... or perhaps Falzar flew down at nearly the speed of light, talons outstretched with intent to delete, and then missed, crashing into the ground next to Gregar. Bass clutched at his head for one moment, fighting against Falzar's will.

Gregar was on his feet, a strange katana blade in his hands.

"Is that-" Said Treble.

"MURAMASA!" Shouted Gregar. "Know My Pain!" The Muramasa suddenly lit up with deep purple flames, feeding on the wounds Gregar had sustained. It hit Bass at just the moment his Beast Over ended. It cleanly cut across Bass' chest, the scathing aura burning away Bass' cloak to reveal his scarred Navi mark. There was a tremendous blast as Bass' power became too much, and the two were blown away. The Zero virus couldn't see anything for a while, until it came back into focus. Gregar and Bass were both face down on the floor, not quite deleted. The area around them was falling apart, threatening to collapse completely. Gregar shakily forced himself to his feet, and picked up a BugFrag a deleted virus had dropped. He swallowed it and started slowly moving for Bass. He reached him, and stared at the prone god for a second, his thoughts a mystery. And then, he formed his claws on his right hand, preparing to stab them into Bass.

Crescendo ran out and punched him in the jaw, an uppercut to make a boxer proud. Gregar staggered back, and suddenly started to convulse in pain. He collapsed, and then white crystals started to form around him, shrinking his size. He tried to resist, but it was obvious he was out of power. Within a moment, Gregar had been sealed inside a small white cube, perhaps the size of his head.

Crescendo picked up Bass, struggling to lift him, and slowly carried him away, Treble watching. The cube started to crack, and not thirty seconds after Gregar had been sealed inside he burst out, returning to normal size and gasping for breath he didn't technically need. "Flare... Ali... as..." He passed out, armor intact but shredded.

Zero closed the video. "What are you going to do, Treble? His life is in your hands, nobody else is in any position to reach him before ProtoMan." He displayed a video of ProtoMan running through the net, sword ready.

"I'll make sure he's not deleted, but I can't let him walk free. And... was that Navi who punched Gregar...? Never mind, for now." Said Treble.

"Then transform, and head for that location in the UnderNet. Hurry, Treble." Said Zero. "I'm counting on you."

"ElementBreath, BugCharge, VariableSword. Let's go!" Said Arthur.

Treble transformed. "NO TIME TO WASTE!"

* * *

It was a frantic dash to get to the part of the UnderNet Gregar had passed out in, but the ability to leap between walkways coupled with a high running speed let Treble get there first. He dropped back into his normal form as he reached the unconscious Gregar, and knelt to pick him up. As soon as he touched him, it hit him that Gregar was actually truly vulnerable at that moment. He could probably have picked him apart if he wanted to. But more interestingly... he found a little option that Gregar might have had, now visible to Treble. 'Activate alternative appearance? Y/N'. Treble selected Y, and Gregar's beast armor shimmered and disappeared. He realised this was his first good look at Gregar without his beast armor. He had a black helmet, and his armor, while being predominantly black had notably a pair of white shoulderguards and a few golden triangles around the boots. Plus a belt of sorts that had a large buckle. "Why does he choose to appear like this?" Wondered Treble aloud. "His beast armor looks way better... and now that I'm touching him, I can tell the beast armor is his true appearance, not something he's summoning."

Arthur shrugged. "Probably to stay hidden. But then again... where did the data for looking like that come from? It seems kind of... military, almost."

"Well, none of my business. I guess we'd better contact the officials and have someone come pick him up. We could always put him in my PET, but he might damage some of our programs if he gets angry." Said Treble.

"No need to worry." Said ProtoMan from behind Treble. "I suppose he must have drawn you in with whatever he did then. We were given the orders to capture or delete if he fought back. If you give him here, I'll send him to a holding cell at SciLabs."

"You... you're not going to delete him, are you? I mean- I think he needs to be arrested too! Just, well, there aren't any other Navis like me." _And he's our best bet by FAR at finding a way to beat the targeting system._

"You have my word" Said ProtoMan.

"Okay. We'll come visit him, if that's alright?" Said Treble, carefully setting Gregar down in front of ProtoMan.

"We were planning to call you back to SciLabs anyway, at Yuichiro Hikari's request. Apparently he has a theory relating to you." Said ProtoMan. "For now, good work. And SteamMan passes on his thanks too. His operator actually wants to meet you. Here, take these." ProtoMan passed Treble two letters.

"Okay..."

"We'll see you tomorrow." Said ProtoMan, logging out with Gregar.

Treble looked at the first one. "Oh, there's a train ticket attached to this message. 'Arthur Penn and Treble, we'd like to invite you back to Scilabs to have another look at Treble's secondary body's data. I also have someone I'd like you to meet! Lan's been looking forwards to another chance to netbattle you as well.' Okay, that's the first one... here's the other, from someone called Burn Kazuhaya. 'ProtoMan has told me about you. We never got a chance to thank you at all yeserday, and we heard you're friends with Blaze. If you come to the square near your homepage at four, we'll have a netbattle.'"

"...Why would Protoman have that letter? Did he just _know_ ProtoMan would find you down here? Are we that predictable?" Said Arthur, confused.

"Hey what's the alternative? Leaving Gregar to fate?" Said Treble. "C'mon, we'd better go get ready!"

"Okay... Well, considering he was able to both pick up and physically restrain that FakeMan guy with _one hand_ yesterday, I'm going to go out on a limb and say he'll easily overpower you in melee combat. Any idea as to his abilities?"

"At a guess? Aqua. And he was kind of a Fire-truck red." Said Treble.

"Well then... I guess that means your transformed self might be a better fit to battling him. He can't have great evasion with that kind of bulk, and unless he has a break-element move he's not going to be able to defeat you before you just burn him down with your attack."

Treble made a funny face for a second. "Look... I really hate to be the one to point this out... but if we're in a square..."

"Oh, right. Well, good job being thoughtful. Perhaps we can just hold the fight outside?"

"Maybe. So... what elec chips have we got?"

"Not counting ElementBreath because we might need to use it to transform... Thunder, ZapRing, DollThunder, ElecReel, and ElecPulse."

"How many are in B code? Or S."

"None of them apart from an ElecReel2 S. Although we did get an ElecPulse3 in A code, I'm kind of proud of that." Said Arthur.

"Huh? What's so special about that?"

"Oh, I remember reading about it when I was looking at the cross system. If you have five crosses registered, the maximum, it adds a new advance your navi can perform, called MasterCross. I have no idea what it does, but it sounds super cool. You need FireHit3, AquaNeedle3, ElecPulse3, and RiskyHoney3. All in A code, which is actually the hardest code to get them in."

"A four chip advance? Wow, with the sheer rarity of all those components it's gotta do something amazing."

"Mm. But they didn't actually explain what it did, so... and anyway, we don't have a Cross System. We probably couldn't even run one, you'd just bug it out."

"Ember has one! Maybe we could trade this chip to her for a better one?" Said Treble. "Or BugFrags?"

"...Maybe. But for now, I'll try and make up an effective folder. You can prepare however you want, we have a couple of hours."

* * *

A few hours later, Treble was wandering around Copperhill's square. SteamMan was nowhere to be seen.

"He never really struck me as the type to wimp out..." Said Arthur. "Do you think he's OK?"

"The guy was an official. Maybe he got called on to arrest someone?" Said Treble. "Or..." He carefully walked over to the BBS, and peered around.

"Huh? Have you seen him?"

"He's coming." Said Treble plainly. Then he smiled. "Man, this is gonna be fun! I get to fight an official!"

SteamMan strode into the square, tall and vigilant. Treble stepped out from behind the BBS and waved. SteamMan noticed him and waved back shortly, coming over. "Treble. Can I count on you for a good netbattle?"

"You don't even have to ask! Where should we fight?"

"There's a good place just outside. Follow me." Commanded SteamMan. He stepped just outside the square, into an area with a good wide open space, and a few walls.

"Alright then, let's-"

"Burn?" Said SteamMan. "What is it? ...Sorry Treble. SciLabs is having trouble and needs us immediately."

Treble would have paled if he could have. "What is the trouble?"

SteamMan looked at him. "He's stuggling, and they want us there in case he causes something to explode."

"Hey Arthur, maybe we should get down there? I know we weren't planning to go until tomorrow, but this is Gregar."

"You're right. Back, Treble. I'll get us onto the next train." Arthur logged Treble out, and jogged down the stairs. As he ran, he looked around. "Okay, twenty minute journey to SciLabs, can Gregar at one health and minimal stamina escape whatever they would use to bind him in twenty minutes?"

"...Probably?" Said Treble. "I mean, unless they just physically seal him inside a PET and disconnect it. But that would involve forcing him into a hard drive in the first place."

"Honestly I'm more worried for Gregar than the officials. If he lashes out ProtoMan is going to dice him."

"Yeah, let's not miss this train."

* * *

Arthur walked up to the front desk of scilabs. "I'd like to offer help to the officials." He said to the attendant.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Uh..."

"You'll need to wait here until one can come out to speak with you. Please, have a seat."

Arthur swallowed. "I... It's urgent. If he's here, send a message to Chaud that Arthur Penn is here and is willing to help with the current problems he's having."

The attendant frowned for a second. "That's... highly classified. One moment, sir..." She gave her Navi some instructions. After a few more seconds, she looked up. "Okay, he's in the room sealed with a red door. Scan your PET to open the lock."

"Thanks." Arthur briskly walked over to a metal door with some red streaks, and held up his PET. It opened with a whirr, revealing it was almost three inches thick.

Half a dozen people were at different computers around the room. Arthur recognised Chaud, and Lan, but no others. Yuichiro was rushing from terminal to terminal, giving orders. Chaud turned and simply said. "Get into the net. If you can placate him, do so. If not, help us pin him."

"Treble, hunt."

Treble was logged directly into the room Gregar was being held in. Currently he was bound by chains and imprisoned within some kind of force field, back in his beast form, with five other Navis trying to ensure he didn't try anything.

Lan looked to one side. "Mayl, how are our force fields doing for energy?"

"We're stabilising. Roll's managed to patch them up."

Chaud looked into his screen hard. "Any indication he's loading a weapon?"

"Negative, master Chaud."

Lan spoke again. "Mr. Famous, how are his chains?"

"Weakening. GateMan doesn't specialise in holding things."

Yuichiro reached over someone's shoulder. "Ribetta, I'm lowering the soundproofing on your mark. Have a calming melody ready."

Lan noticed Treble. "Arthur, if you can hear me, then have Treble try and protect our seals from any bugs Gregar tries to cause in them. Roll can repair damage, but not debug."

"Y-yes! Of course." Said Arthur. "Treble, can you do that?"

"Well... I've never tried, but maybe if I..." Treble held out his hands and focused. "I can reroute them to me. I can take a bug any day." He gave a low growl. "Oh, he's not happy about that."

Ribetta called out. "ToadMelody ready."

"Dropping the soundproofing now." Said Yuichiro.

Gregar's roaring echoed throughout the area, but a frog croaking bizarrely seemed to cut through it. Gregar looked confused for a second, halting his roar to glare at ToadMan. ToadMan continued to croak, until finally Gregar stopped trying to struggle against his chains for a few moments.

"ToadMan's out of data to use." Said Ribetta. "I hope that was enough to calm him."

"I am NOT calm." Said Gregar bitterly.

"Hey Gregar." Said Treble. "How are you feeling? Bass kind of beat you up."

"If this is your way of 'helping' after that, then I don't need your help!" Said Gregar. He tried drawing his body in a bit to generate some slack in GateMan's chains, but no luck.

A navi Arthur didn't recognise but assumed was GateMan stepped up. He noticed Treble flinch when GateMan came into his field of vision. GateMan looked at Gregar. "Now that you can hear us, let me make it clear. If you struggle... CircusMan's cage ability was based on my stolen data. I can seal you within me long enough to delete us both permanently, even if I have no doubt you would consume me iside out given time. So do not attempt to attack."

"You can't." Said Gregar defiantly. "We were only vulnerable to... that accursed clown because our souls were totally seperated from us. Your bluffs don't scare me."

"Uhh... Gregar?" Said Treble. "You're kind of at their mercy right now. Maybe you shouldn't-"

"Shut up, Treble."

"Hey, you used my name instead of 'fake'. Bass must have hit your head really hard." Said Treble. "Anyway... I think you should try and at least be diplomatic here. Just my two zenny."

"..." Gregar glared. "What do you want to ask." He said, voice bound back with every drop of willpower he had.

ProtoMan spoke. "Most importantly... we want to know if there's any way to capture cybeast Falzar. Containing damage is our top priority."

Gregar gave a many-fanged grin. "Then you're really going to hate what I do to your stupid chains. The last ones were a hundred times bigger, you thought these pathetic things could bind me?!" He closed his eyes for a second, and with an almighty cracking sound, burst through the chains around his body with his raw strength. They fell to the ground uselessly, and Gregar stamped on them for good measure. " _Ahh!_ That's better." He flexed his hands, readying his claws even with his body littered with wounds. "I'll go down fighting."

"We don't plan to delete you... yet." Said ProtoMan. "Don't make any moves you might regret."

"Treble. Fight me."

"Gregar, I think you need to heal before you do this." Said Treble. But then he shrugged. "But if you insist..." He grinned.

"By the time I'm done with you you'll be afraid to fight a mettaur!" Snarled Gregar.

"Steve beat you to that, pick a different virus." Said Treble.

"Who is _Steve?_ "

Treble just giggled. "The mettaur king." Treble looked to ProtoMan. "Hey, I might be able to keep him calm for longer by beating the stuffing out of him."

"...It's against regulations." Said ProtoMan. "But at this point, I think we're authorised to do anything if we believe it'll help. Just don't delete him or get deleted."

"You've got my word!" Said Treble. "So, uh... who's running the barrier? Can you drop it?"

A pink navi with a yellow halo raised her hand. "I'm sustaining it, although SciLabs set it up. Once I drop it, it might take a little while to restart."

Gregar tapped the forcefield experimentally. "I can break it anyway if I try. Just let me fight!"

Roll glanced to Treble. Treble nodded. Roll lowered her hands. "Okay, powering off the barrier. We'll guard the exit in case he tries to escape."

Treble dropped into a fighting stance. "He won't."

"Damn right." Said Gregar, holding his claws aggressively. He focused, and to Treble's surprise recovered ten health... somehow.

Gregar opened with a deadly lunge, fast as he could. Treble darted to the side, away from the blow, and morphed his tail into SheepMan's buster. It fired slowly, without any NaviCust to improve it, but one of the tiny shots found its mark on Gregar's cheek. In the half-second it took Gregar to turn and prepare another lunge, he'd been pinged by another two shots from the tail buster. He roared like his throat was dry, and brought up his beast buster, a weapon that made the tail buster seem like a lit match before an erupting volcano. Treble was at 815 health, and while untransformed, the quicker of the two wolves. He abandoned normal strategy, and just charged Gregar with a berserker howl, ignoring the damage sustained from Gregar's buster. He leapt, and with both claws swiped at Gregar. The heavy buster needed a quarter of a second to sheathe, and Gregar's aura, summoned reflexively, flickered like a damaged lightbulb, the face of his true form seeming to be just as tired. Gregar had done amazingly well considering how massive his disadvantage was, but Treble knocked him flat on his back, the safeguard of a normal netbattle turning a deleting blow into a near-knockout one.

Gregar just lay on his back. He coughed. "Y-your buster... sucks."

Arthur looked at the PET. "Hey, we got his NaviChip! Gregar EX. EX? I thought that EX and SP had to be given as gifts..."

Yuichiro took a second to explain. "You can obtain an EX chip by defeating a Navi in under thirty seconds, as long as they don't resist. I suppose Gregar was too tired."

Treble went and crouched by Gregar. "...Why's your buster so good, anyway?"

Gregar looked straight up. "You don't know? All that and you don't know how to alter a program."

"...This wasn't really much of a rematch, huh?"

"I'll... kick your tail in later." Said Gregar.

ProtoMan suddenly put a hand to his ear. "SteamMan? What's wrong?" His expression was masked by his glasses, but his voice betrayed something serious. "We're under attack?! NOW?" ProtoMan looked to the other few Navis around him. "Everyone, to the SciLab area immediately, with me. Treble, watch the prisoner."

"Who's attacking? I can fight better than pink barrier navi there, probably."

MegaMan glared at him. "Hey, don't say anything bad about Roll. Or I'll show you exactly what an unfair fight looks like. She's a talented healer. Besides, you can probably convice Gregar not to try and go on a rampage."

"Everyone, hurry." Commanded ProtoMan. They rushed out of the area.

Arthur looked to Chaud. "Who's attacking? ...Are they here for Gregar?"

"It's a pair of Navis." Said Chaud. "They have a third one running some kind of... cloud machine to obscure them from view. If only we had Charlie here, we could blow these clouds away..."

"I got this!" Said Lan. "WindRack."

Arthur looked at ProtoMan's screen to see MegaMan form the unusal weapon and blow a gust of air towards the cyber clouds. A large black wheel rocketed out towards him, catching him totally off guard. MegaMan had no time at all to defend himself, and the Hell'sRolling slammed him in the face, causing him to stumble back.

Bass floated forwards. "...Out of the way." He said.

"You can't beat us here, Bass." Said MegaMan. "Why are you attacking Scilabs?!"

A glowing green bolt of energy shaped like a wing soared out of the remaining smoke, straight for MegaMan. Again, he was caught off guard, and this time was totally floored, barely conscious. His slow reactions implied he'd been struggling with something energy-intensive for a long time before now.

Flare, quiet gentle Flare, also floated forwards. And she spoke with absolute, pure hatred in her voice. " _That_. Was for absorbing and deleting my brother. He's yours, Bass. I- ngh." She twitched her head, like something was causing her a searing headache. "I have to hurry."

Bass landed in front of ProtoMan, Roll, ToadMan and GateMan. "...Dust before the wind!" He yelled, and entered his Beast out. But this time, it radiated power. Arthur could feel it from here- this time there was no holding back from either Bass or Falzar. Flare however, soared over all their heads, straight for the back of the labs. GateMan raised a cannon to try and shoot her down, and was was first casualty. Bass was directly in front of him in a mere moment, and clawed him with enough force to instantly drop him out of the fight, slam-dunking him onto the floor with two huge parallel cuts. He was promptly logged out.

ProtoMan was the next target, Bass moving at him with his darkness blade. ProtoMan just about caught it, getting thrown away by the force with his purple sword cracked.

Chaud frowned. "Activating FZ mode. Begin emulation."

ProtoMan was still for a second, and then flashed. Nothing appeared different save for his sword changing to orange. "Emulation successful."

Bass hadn't wasted a moment, going staright for Roll and ToadMan. ToadMan was forced to log out after one hit, but Roll was almost holding her own. She wasn't winning by ANY stretch of imagination, but she was putting up a real fight. MegaMan stood shakily. "Roll, no!"

"I won't let him hurt you!" Yelled Roll, just barely evading a blast from a TankCannon. She fired an arrow, but it simply didn't damage Bass. Bass lunged and grabbed her by the Navi mark.

"You are worthy. Get ab-" He was interrupted by MegaMan shooting him. He dropped Roll, and she logged out, barely intact.

MegaMan prepared to fight, already badly damaged and tired from containing Gregar for several hours. Bass was about to attack, when ProtoMan hit. Whatever FZ mode was, it was a _serious_ powerup. His blade was able to rend Bass' defences just a little, and that diverted his attention. They both appeared to disappear, clashing with talon and sword for mere snapshots, until Bass put his hands together. A copy of Falzar's head formed, and a tornado blew from the mouth. It hit a red shield summoned by ProtoMan, and to Chaud's surprise, went straight through. Bass followed through with his devastating Buster rake, and shots rained on ProtoMan. His health was evaporating. Still, he leapt up, intending to try and hit Bass again. Bass grabbed him.

"A poor attempt at replicating this power..." Said Bass. "Get ability!"

ProtoMan didn't cry out. He resisted, with all he was worth. And that saved his life, as it let MegaMan hit Bass with another charge shot. Bass threw ProtoMan to the floor in disgust, and floated down. He had several deep sword wounds, but was still at about 1500 health. ProtoMan had to log out, drained of power.

"I won't let you have him." Said MegaMan. "I won't let you destroy the net!"

"You have no say in this matter." Bass was suddenly in front of him. "Buster rake!"

As he raised his two golden guns, a navi leapt from behind him, in heavy red armor. "HYDRAULIC PUNCH!"

Bass whipped around and recieved the hardest punch he'd ever known. SteamMan hit like an entire frieght train after a quadruple expresso. Bass was sent reeling back, struck just as he was vulnerable. SteamMan's hand retracted a bit, metal sliding back into the arm. "I hit you with the Falzar cannon! You should be deleted!" Bass shouted.

SteamMan was in a bad way, windburn having almost ruined his front. "For the officials! For honor!" he yelled defiantly.

"...Running Hub Batch." whispered MegaMan.

Bass moved to strike a deleting blow, and suddenly MegaMan was attacking, beasted out. It was two against one. SteamMan was in bad shape, but he'd done all he needed to. He'd broken Bass' stride, and given MegaMan time to recieve what Arthur thought was a powerful chip of some kind. Bass could have easily deleted the weakened SteamMan in one hit, but MegaMan was taking up all his attention. He... appeared to be a little different, somehow. Arthur couldn't put his finger on it, until for one split second MegaMan looked at his camera and he saw MegaMan's eyes were... brown? Not green like normal, or Gregar's red. Brown. He looked over and saw Lan operating like a man possessed, chips appearing to fly from table to PET and hands a blur. He wasn't saying a word, just staring deeply into the screen. Suddenly, MegaMan was more than a match for Falzar Bass.

Treble brought Arthur out of his fixation on MegaMan and Bass' duel. "Flare?!"

Flare gritted her teeth. "Tr-treble. Leave. I'm here to rescue Gregar."

"...I can't. You know I can't let you do this."

"I can't hold back!" Shouted Flare, suddenly jumping forwards. Treble raised his claws to defend himself, but Flare pulled a DrillArm and stabbed right through. She didn't stop there, comboing the attack with a thrust of her hands that summoned a whirlpool. Treble was thrown back, landing on his feet.

"We don't have a choice. She... she must have lost herself to the-" Arthur was interrupted.

"I don't want to think about it! Let's just fight- and win!" Said Treble.

"You're right. Thunder, VariableSword, Left B Right B." Said Arthur.

Treble skirted around the raging water to try and hit Flare with the thunder, but the second he fired it she launched a Wing Boomerang, and the Thunder evaporated on contact. Treble launched the SonicBoom before she could prime another attack, hitting her squarely in the chest thanks to her inexperience. But inexperience wasn't holding her back from absolutely going to town on Treble. She just about matched his speed, and her spread buster simply couldn't be dodged. It started to chip away at Treble's health until without warning Flare dived for him with a surge of destructive wind tearing up the floor behind her, and nearly burying him under a storm of debris. Treble burst out, injured, and suddenly Flare was holding a vaguely familar sword. An ornate golden handle, and a gleaming blade of white metal. It had a powerful yet myserious glow, bright and deadly.

"Excalibur!" She said firmly. Treble didn't manage to dodge, and was suddenly sliced for over 400 damage. He collapsed... but wasn't deleted. Flare had held back at the very last second. Flare looked down at him, murder in her eyes and an iron will in her voice. "As... much as he wants... you dead... as... this system wants you dead... I... ah! I... won't do it! I won't!" Flare grabbed Treble's hand walked over to Gregar, then logged out, taking both navis with her.

"Treble?! A-are you alive?! Speak to me! PLEASE!" Cried Arthur in panic.

No reply from his PET. But Chaud was already at his shoulder, having seen the whole thing. "He's not deleted."

"Are you sure?! Quick, help me log him out then!"

"No good. Your PET is being blocked, and all but the most well-protected systems won't work. You'll be able to send him battlechips or maybe items, but that's it. No SubChips, no information, and likewise he can't send anything to you." Explained Chaud. "To all intents and purposes... your navi just got kidnapped."

* * *

Treble looked at the floor. He didn't really have the energy to look anywhere else. "Where...?"

He heard someone walking up to him. "My new home, darling."

 **Author's notes: So here, Hub batch is basically God mode. All buster stats raise to ten, speed and reaction times go off the charts, communication with Lan is telepathic, and he gets the BodyPack, NumberOpen and Reflect NaviCust programs activated. The downside? After 500 damage, Lan faints. If MegaMan were to get deleted, Lan dies.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JaneValentine007_ : Honestly I'm 99% sure GunDelSol does extra samage to ShadeMan. Here's a little more of SteamMan!**

 **RushAlias: As it turns out, that goes all three ways for your Navis. They have each other's backs.**

 **Guest: Zero's badassery seems to be a universal constant. Even if Battle Network was his weakest incarnation by far, he's still a super powerful enemy. As for crushes... Well, I'm still working out where that'll go.**


	23. Chapter 23: Holding

Treble was about able to sit up. "SheepMan?"

"I did hope to never see you again." Said SheepMan. "Alas."

There was a slight groan from Treble's left. He saw Gregar lying there, Flare backing away. She stared to SheepMan for a second. "I need to back away for now. It's exhausting to control my power..."

"I'll bind him and heal your brother, Ma'am." Said SheepMan. "How was my operating?"

Flare turned, and kicked off from the ground. SheepMan wasn't fazed. He just walked over to a folder and started looking through programs until he found a rope. "Now, hold still. I'd love to delete you, but Flare's will comes before mine."

* * *

Arthur was frantic. "There must be something we can do!"

"None of our navis are in fighting shape right now. Lan's going to need to rest immediately after using his ultimate ability." Said Chaud. "I recommend you organise a search party."

"I'll get my friends mobilised. Can you lend anyone?" Said Arthur, holding his emotions together determinedly.

"I can't give you anyone. Bass backed off once Lan beat him, but he's wiped out SciLab security." Said Chaud. "Even with our agents, I'm going to have to hire mercenaries to protect us until our forces are back in operation."

The door to the room opened. A young man with dark red hair walked in. "Chaud, sir. We've secured the area online. The remaining security should be able to repel another low-grade threat. We've pulled through!"

"Good work, Burn." Chaud looked around the room. "Alright, everyone. Put your Navis into recovery and have someone contact Miyabi's team. I'll have Raika sent over."

"Arthur?" Said Burn. Arthur got his first proper look beyond Burn's hair. He looked like the definition of a 'Bro', with a slightly scuffed leather jacket and an air of protectiveness about him. "Did Falzar cause any damages?"

"I..." Arthur refocused. "She's kidnapped my navi and taken back Gregar."

Burn looked taken aback. "But... when we encountered her at the ambush point, she was weaker than Gregar, and we know you could have probably fought him to a standstill."

Yuichiro spoke, after checking his son. "Her power was a lot greater than the last encounter. Somehow, it's spiked massively in just a few hours."

"Well then, we'd better get looking for him." Said Burn. "SteamMan's going to need a while to recover, but my sister can hopefully make some headway."

"Great. You get her to meet up with my friends, and then they can co-ordinate." Arthur started thumbing through his contacts on the PET. "I'm not going to rest until I've got Treble back safe." He reached Denny first. "Denny, I need a fav- No, I need this no matter what. Treble's been kidnapped by Flare. Drop whatever you're doing and get to our local square. I'm sending every ally I can get to form a search party." He hung up.

"You might want to get a navi to temporarily operate." Suggested Burn. "I'll go now, and contact Ember." He stepped out of the room.

Arthur was already at the next contact. "Joe, Treble's been kidnapped. I need MathMan sent to the local square to meet up with the rest of the search party." And then William. "William, where are you right now?"

"I have my last daily practice session in one minute. What is it?"

"Treble's been kidnapped. Get ArsenalMan to our local square ASAP. I'm putting together a search party."

"On it." There was a click as he hung up.

Arthur looked around. "Right, now what? Chaud, do you have any scans of the net?"

"They don't go into anywhere that might be considered private, including people's computers. It's unlikely you'll see Treble or Falzar on them."

"I don't care, I have to try. Bring them up."

"One moment..."

* * *

The next morning, Treble strained to look around the computer, bound tightly by the rope. Whoever had built it clearly put a lot of care and effort into the machine. It was extremely spacious, capable of holding all four of the current navis without any problems. A truly impressive feat when you considered the nature of three of them. It was partitioned into sections, the floor changing colour to indicate who had where. Most easily visible was Gregar's territory. Green flooring that matched Gregar's body, and a slight mess everywhere- not so much laziness as just... training debris. A poster with a couple of battlechips was haphazardly slapped onto one wall, and there was a badly beaten training dummy in the centre. Treble noticed a strange program that he suspected was a virus breeder, judging by the smell. Or perhaps some kind of improved encyclopedia of enemies. Or maybe Gregar had just taken to stuffing viruses into a tiny box for fun. Who knows?

Next to it was a section he assumed was Alias', behind a locked barrier. Black flooring, and walls lined with a lot of posters for different things, all neatly arranged. They seemed to share a mechanical theme. A large shelf appeared to hold data relating to chips, and there was a program of some kind, but Treble couldn't turn much further.

If he looked the other way he could see SheepMan's 'room'. It was a soft white floor, and mostly free from any kind of personal stuff since SheepMan had only moved in very recently. But there was a reclining chair in one corner, a very cheap off-brand one, but a chair nonetheless. SheepMan was out of sight, in Flare's area. Treble was extremely curious as to how Flare might have styled her area, but for now it was a mystery.

That left the navis. Alias was nowhere near, Treble could smell him thanks to the fact all his stuff was nearby, but the Navi himself? Nope. Gregar was a little to Treble's right, staring angrily. Flare was in her area, talking to SheepMan. Treble could just barely overhear them.

"Ma'am, you need to delete him. He'll doom us all left unchecked!" Said SheepMan.

"I have been clear with you. Even if he has hurt you... He is a good navi. Do not disturb me while I recover."

"...Sorry, Ma'am. Perhaps I spoke out of turn."

"SheepMan, please stop calling me Ma'am. It's weird."

"Simply how I was programmed, Ma- Lady Flare."

"Please, no titles. I just want to be called Flare."

"I'm... unaccustomed to adressing my superiors by name alone, Flare."

"Let me rest, SheepMan."

"Of course, Flare."

Treble's eavesdropping was interrupted when Gregar spoke. "Just what did you do to SheepMan, anyway?"

Treble had a hard time speaking with his mouth bound nearly shut, but was about able to say "Deleted his friend. Wrecked his life."

Gregar stood there with his arms crossed for a while, thinking about something angrily. Eventually he looked over to Flare's area. "I'm going out. Delete him if he breaks free. I recommend you do anyway, but I know you well enough, Flare."

SheepMan jogged over. "Are you sure that's wise right now? There may well be-"

"I already know. Just make sure Flare's not in danger." Gregar's true armor disappeared, replacing itself with the disguise. Treble watched as the head that resembled his own was replaced by what could have been just another navi. He strode out of the computer, into the net.

Treble turned a bit. "So..." He said awkwardly. "What happened after you left?"

SheepMan glared. "I don't have anything to say to you."

Treble became aware of Flare getting up. SheepMan stepped back, and let Flare come into view. She looked tired, in her disguised form as a girl in a dress, with no armored sections save for a simple chestplate. Treble immediately knew she'd been struggling with the targeting system. But she had a brave face on nonetheless. She slowly walked in front of Treble, and sat down a few paces away. "...I wish you'd listened when I told you to get out of the way." She said.

"I... uh, I would have if I could've. Just, well... we're on opposite sides." Said Treble. "And even if I like you, I... I've got friends on both sides of this. You and Gregar and... maybe Alias, versus Arthur and MathMan and ArsenalMan, PlugMan and Ember. Oh, and SteamMan. Recent addition."

"...You'd consider Gregar your friend? After he advised we delete you?" Said Flare.

"Uh, well... wow, why am I hesitating so much? Not like me. Anyway... I guess I just sort of... thought he was cool. He's got that whole 'lone wolf' thing. I couldn't do that. I'm kind of jealous, even." Said Treble.

"You could. Gregar's whole reason for being that way is to protect hios friends, and stop the pain in himself." Flare shimmered, and the Falzar armor encased her. Her hair was replaced by an orange helmet, her face with a beak and solid glowing eyes. "...I've been having some trouble staying in control ever since I did what I had to to rescue Gregar. Maybe I shouldn't stay too close to you."

"...I can think of worse ways to be deleted." _Why the flying, flipping frick did I say THAT._ "Not... that I want to be deleted, I just... I mean... You're like, not a bad navi..." _Stop talking. Stop._

Flare's beak couldn't convey a smile, but there was some slight, sad amusement in her eyes. "Don't tempt me."

"Trying not to. So... um. New conversation topic?" Said Treble. "And can I have my mouth untied? It's really hard to speak like this."

Flare clapped her hands once. "SheepMan. Could you? I don't think I can go any closer."

"At once, Ma'am. I mean, Flare." Said SheepMan. He reached behind Treble, and untied a knot. The ropes around Treble's mouth fell away.

"Ohhhhhhh, that's better." Said Treble. "Gotta love being able to move your mouth." He poked out his tongue, just because he could. Then realised he was poking his tongue out at Flare, and drew it back in in panic.

"Any idea what we should talk about? I just feel... emotionally exhausted right now. Oh. Why didn't you just insert a bug into the rope?" Said Flare, leaning back and sighing.

"Low energy, one health. What am I going to do once I'm out? I doubt I could even transform to get away, with a grand total of two hit points after they double. Uhhh... SheepMan, any ideas for another topic?"

"Do not speak to me." Said SheepMan. "I will not forgive you. I will not. Know that the moment I can, I will delete you."

Flare sighed. "SheepMan... I'll be fine around the prisoner. He's in danger from me, not the other way around. If he's upsetting you, you don't need to worry about me. You can go and do something you like. Maybe you'll find something else you'd like for your area?"

"You're most generous." Said SheepMan. "Call if there's anything I can do for you." He left, and sat down in his chair, item catalogue in hand. A wall materialised around the section, for privacy.

"...Hey, I know what we could talk about." Said Treble. "What's a crush? Nobody will give me a straight answer."

* * *

Arthur was nearly comatose, fighting to stay awake after a whole night spent co-ordinating the search for Treble. Joe didn't look much better on the end of a video call. William was bearing the tiredness well. Denny was apparently some kind of superhuman that didn't need sleep. Still, worry was a powerful agent of insomnia.

Chaud entered the room. "Just because it'll notify you if Treble gets deleted doesn't mean you need to watch it every moment. You'll make more progress if you're rested."

"I'll keep going until I faint or find him. I've got everyone sweeping that area as thoroughly as we can. If any of those beasts so much as sneezes outside a private computer, then I'll trace them back to their home."

Chaud sighed. "Bed. Now. I'll take over your watch with ProtoMan, now that he's repaired. Have you answered your parents?"

Arthur glanced at his PET. "Yeah." _...I just said 'I'm ok, but I might be late. I'll explain when I'm home.'_ There was a string of messages he hadn't answered, devoting every second he had to trying to get a lead on Treble.

"And have you let your friends sleep? They might lose a navi if you push them too hard. If they're not rested, I'll have Raika and Miyabi take over. Both are professional trackers, so I assure you they'll be as thorough as you."

"...Denny still seems ok. The other two... might need a rest..."

"I'm serious, you need to sleep."

"...Thanks for helping..."

* * *

"Wow, that was a pretty great story." Said Treble.

"It's just a cheap romance novel..." Said Flare nervously. "But it's the only one I have. Do you understand what a crush is now?"

"..." Treble suddenly understood the saying 'ignorance is bliss'. "Y-yeah."

"So..." Flare looked around. "Oh, I know. Can you shuffle yourself around to face my area?"

"I'm tied to whatever program this is." Treble felt something hard against his back. "I'm pretty sure I'd have to rip it out of place."

"Oh, the repair program. You know, there's a couch literally right next to it. I should probably have told SheepMan to tie you to that instead." Said Flare. "Well... stay put." She said awkwardly. She got up and walked off.

There was a faint 'Meeep', followed by Flare saying. "Come on Zoano, new person to meet." Flare came back into view holding a mettaur. "Treble, this is Zoano." The mettaur waved it's pickaxe in Treble's general direction.

'Meep!'

Flare looked at it sternly. "Now now. You will not get angry at the guest. That's Gregar's role."

'Meep!'

Treble looked at it sideways. "You tamed a mettaur? Why?"

"Well, Gregar found a virus breeder somewhere, and it can basically make a pet version of a virus if you have the necessary data. So we made Zoano! He... doesn't like Gregar much, but he gets along with everyone else pretty well."

'Meeeeep, Meep!' the mettaur kicked uselessly. Then flashed orange for a second.

"No! Bad Zoano. Bad. Don't make me rip that power out of you." Said Flare.

"Wait, was it about to beast out?" Said Treble.

"I've stored some of my power in Zoano, to reduce what I'm carrying. It helps a bit, but I think it made him more aggressive towards you and Gregar. He keeps trying to bite Gregar's tail when he isn't looking. For a mettaur, it'll put up a great fight!"

* * *

Gregar sat atop a vantage point. He'd long since picked out the best ambush points in the area, and this was definitely one of them. Made all the better by its inconspicuous nature- a coffee shop. The digitized drink had next to no appeal to Gregar outside the health recovery, the taste just plain _wrong_ when compared to BugFrags. But the coffee shop was a fantastic vantage point, overlooking a lot of the area and at an elevated enough height to allow him to jump down and land near an unsuspecting enemy.

"You know, you've become something of a regular here this last week." Said the shop owner. "Yet we hardly know you. Are you new here?"

Gregar realised he was being talked to, his careful watch of the area being broken. "Hm? ...I guess."

"Not really one for words? Well, our chain actually made a policy to give customers a free item after they've visited five times in a week. Here." The owner held out a small NaviCust program.

"Attack +1. Thanks?" Said Gregar. He looked over the area again. "...I better go." He got up and walked over to the balcony.

"Come back soon. Uh, are you about to-"

Gregar jumped off the balcony.

Virtual air rushed past his face, as the disguise disappeared and a flash of green light restored his natural form, red-eyed and a wolf's mouth. He stretched out his arms, a tiny spark of pleasure coming from feeling his claws replace the hands. He landed behind his target and struck.

* * *

To ArsenalMan, it had been his second sweep of this area, and the last before logging out for a rest. William was hardly even able to think at this point, and Arthur had been sent away by Chaud, so there wasn't quite so much guilt involved in taking a break. He thought, for one small second, that there was an unusual shadow here...

Then he was impaled.

"What-?!" Yelled ArsenalMan, dropping to his knees.

A clawed hand roughly flipped him over. Gregar put a foot on ArsenalMan's throat and leaned in, grinning a jagged grin. "This seems familiar to me, you getting taken out easy." His tone suddenly dropped to deadly serious. "Get out of here, and take your search party with you. Or I'll delete Treble."

"You... Idiot." Said ArsenalMan. It had been the last thing Gregar was expecting to hear, but he didn't let it show. "You'd delete the only Navi that would actually try and have you smooth things over with the officials?"

"It's hopeless, and you know it. You better run." Gregar took his foot off.

ArsenalMan logged out.

* * *

Arthur woke up not half an hour after he'd gone to sleep. As he was drifting off, he'd heard his PET's phone ring. William's tone. And that meant...

"Have you found something?!"

"Arthur, we're stuck. Gregar's threatened to delete Treble if we keep searching. What can we do?"

"..."

"I've pulled ArsenalMan back, and I have the others ready, but... how are we ever going to get him back if we can't search?"

"...Do as he says. I'll find another way." Said Arthur, ending the call. He nearly lay back down to sleep, and then his eye landed on a vending machine. Full of energy drinks.

* * *

"This isn't within expectations..."

"Gregar is ruthless... Even if he's not a strategist, he's using enough common sense and enough knowledge of how things are to beat us in the big picture." Said Chaud. "And now, we're out of options. I'm sorry to call you away from your work on your new systems, but you're our last card to play. Lan's exhausted from using HubBatch, and all Arthur's friends and our own forces will get Treble deleted. Against Gregar, that's unacceptable, it means Gregar regains his full strength by absorbing Treble."

"And that leaves me."

"...I'm afraid so."

"Have you tried contacting Regal? He was good at kidnapping."

"He's unavailable. Currently on a business trip in Netopia."

"Then you're stumped. I'm an engineer who happens to be very good at programming." Said Wily. "Every plan I made relied on the element of surprise, being an unknown factor. From the LifeVirus, to using Gospel as a smokescreen, to going after Alpha, to waking the beasts. You _couldn't_ reasonably have predicted me. But now we're all a known factor."

Chaud sighed. "You can return to your work, doctor."

"I do have some semblance of an idea." Said Wily. "You need a Navi that has absolutely no links to the officials, and no customisations. Those basic navis can go anywhere, do nearly anything, and nobody will bat an eyelid. Perhaps with an enemy that simply couldn't be expected... you could get in there."

Arthur knocked the wall for attention, having stumbled into the room. "I think I have an option."

Chaud snapped to attention. "Why aren't you asleep?! You're going to collapse if you keep this up."

"Stress. Anyway, even though most navis these days have a bit of customisation... I know someone that might be willing to risk it..."

* * *

Gregar strode into the computer. "Alright, we should be safe for a while." The exit slammed shut behind him.

"Hey Gregar!" Said Treble cheerfully. "I can talk normally again!"

"...Why are you so positive about this?!" Gregar grabbed some of the ropes around Treble's chest, and yanked them in. The healing program was pulled away from the floor a little. "We've got you by the throat! You have no hope of rescue, and even if I hate you less than most officials. We can't let you go or we're discovered. We can't keep you alive forever, because you'll escape! We have to delete you!"

Treble sighed. "Well, someone has to be positive. Anyway. I'm still running. It's not like you don't have a clear shot right now."

Gregar put his head close against Treble's, staring him in the eyes. "You know why I haven't deleted you."

Treble couldn't turn, but he could feel Flare's presence in the computer. "...Yeah. You... really respect her a lot, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it." Gregar let go, and the healing program bumped to the ground.

Treble felt a sudden jolt. He checked his health. 2... 3... He tried his hardest not to react in any way to the fact he'd just managed to accidentally bug the healing program into healing him. "Look, I know you were trying to be flirty and all with the head-in-close thing, but I don't... go that way." Said Treble.

"What."

"I mean-"

"WHY, IN THE NAME OF _BASS_ , WOULD I FLIRT WITH YOU?!" Shouted Gregar.

Flare stood up. "My fault. I read him that terrible romance novel to pass the time."

Gregar didn't have many expressions with a wolf's head, but the body language conveyed his exasperation well enough. "I'm going to do some training. SheepMan, catch." He pitched a small red cube into the air like a quarterback.

SheepMan caught the program, just about. "Where did you find this?"

"Coffee shop." Said Gregar, leaning over the virus breeder. "You've got a NaviCust, right?"

"You... don't?" Said SheepMan.

"I do. It's two by three." Said Gregar. "Only enough to run Skata. Good thing I don't need to run buster customisations."

"Skata?" Said Treble.

Gregar jumped, and a green-gold motorcycle materialised beneath his feet. "Good for fast travel." He stepped off and it disappeared.

"...I've never seen anyone else with that." Said Treble. "And wow, your NaviCust sucks. Mine's four by four. No 'run' line though."

"Well what do you even put in there? Your health's too low to be running any HP things." Said Gregar.

"Just all the free programs that come with a PET. I... can't actually seem to find any others. And they don't work with my actual buster. Just the claws." Treble shrugged.

SheepMan sat up. "...I'm somewhat surprised that I, of all Navis, have a better NaviCust than a pair of killing machines."

"I also have a normal five by five." Said Flare. "And besides, you've got to run those health boosters. Fifty is... just too low for max health."

"I concede, you're the easiest to customise of us." Said SheepMan. "...How does your friend Alias match up?"

"He's got a perfectly fine one too." Said Flare.

There was a whirr as Gregar started up the training program in his area. After he put in some commands, it started to project a copy of a HeadyH for Gregar to fight. To Treble's interest, Gregar wasn't making any attacks that would actually break the aura. Possibly just to prolong the training session.

"Hey, where is Alias anyway? I haven't seen you guys without him before. And that's got to be his room by there." Said Treble.

"None of your business." Said SheepMan. "Gregar, can you re-open the outer link? I need some internet to browse for furniture."

* * *

"Dad... I need a favor."

"Arthur?! We've been worried sick! What's happened? Where are you?!"

"I'll explain now, but let me say that Treble is in serious danger and you're my only option to rescue him." Said Arthur carefully.

"...What do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to mail you a map of an area. I need you to use your navi to look for any one of these three navis. Once you find one, I need you to follow them back to their homepage."

"Alright. You'd better explain now."

Arthur glanced to Chaud. "Remember... remember when I got Treble? How he's made entirely of bugs, and scilabs just wove them together to work in harmony? And... have you heard of a program called Gregar?"

"I know about the beasts. Are you saying Treble is Gregar? Has he gone crazy?"

"No. Gregar survived the cyber city incident, and long story short... he's got Treble hostage. Your navi is the only one I can think of who might be able to get around there without raising suspicions. I just need you to get within... maybe three minutes' travel? While holding a certain program."

"...You haven't slept. I can hear it. How long ago was Treble taken?"

"About... fifteen hours ago?"

"... I'm on the way. Send me pictures of what I'm looking for." There was a click.

Arthur looked at his PET, sending an email with several bulky attachments. "There must be something more I can do..."

Wily tapped his cane on the floor once. "You've done everything you need to. My signal-boosting program your father's navi carries was worked on by Yuichiro, and if there's one thing I've come to truly believe in, it's that the Hikari family can do anything they try to. As long as he can get into the same small zone... You should be able to reach your navi."

* * *

ArsenalMan stared at his hands. "The gap in power has widened... I swore things would be different, I tried with all I had... I'm not worthy."

William was quiet. "We've failed." He said eventually.

They sat in silence.

Finally, ArsenalMan looked up. "Rework me."

"...What do you mean?"

"I may be a Cursor type navi... but I have too severe a weakness in my melee combat. Not only that... my accuracy is... unacceptable. I don't think more power will solve flaws built into me. So... build them out."

"If I reworked you, then... you know how risky that is. Your AI could become irreparably damaged."

"It's our only choice. Redesign me to cover my weaknesses, and hurry. We've failed for the last time."

William looked at his huge coding manual. "...No. We'll fail again eventually. But we're soldiers. We only surrender when the war is lost. Not the battle." He grabbed a sheet of paper and started planning. "Better armor. Better melee skills. Better options to control the flow of battle. And better weapons. Let's do this."

* * *

"Arthur? You look wrecked!" Said Blaze.

"h... hey blaze."

"Do you want me to pinch your cheek? Maybe it'll wake you up?"

"Blaze, this is serious." Said Ember.

Arthur shrugged. "I'm close to recovering Treble. I'm going to send our music box through first, just as a test. He won't have to summon it, so it won't tip those guys off. Then I'll follow through with a FullEnergy and my personal advance. Hopefully enough to escape."

"Uhh... So, what's the plan before that? How did you figure out how to get to him? Anything I can do? I really don't like being helpless." Said Blaze.

"A totally uncustomised navi can go anywhere without raising suspicion. My dad's gone in holding a program that's... like a relay of some sort? Wily made the basic version, then Yuichiro made a better one. Anyway. Any second now..."

* * *

"Huh?" Said Treble. "Guys, who here is registered to the-" Treble realised that if someone with Scilabs' address was sending him something he probably shouldn't announce it. _Please be something useful..._

A music box clattered to the floor in front of Treble.

Gregar immediately looked over. "What was that?"

SheepMan sat up. "This is a music box, latest edition! From Eurasia's Techno line- Capable of holding up to two hundred songs in pitch-perfect definition, a revolutionary interface for rapid selection and best of all, available for a very reasonable price!" He rattled off without thinking. "...Sorry. I've heard that spiel a lot."

"...Why on earth is that here?!" Said Treble. "Couldn't I have gotten something useful from a random twist in fate? Like... I don't know, jacked out?"

Flare walked over and picked up the box. A faint 'meep' indicated she'd been playing with Zoano. "It... does seem like a pretty bad choice of aid to send."

"You keep it. I, uh, don't think I've got much use for it right now." Said Treble. He gave his health a quick check. 347, maybe enough to make a break for freedom? There was some kind of powerful sealing mechanism on the page exit, but it had been left open so SheepMan could browse for furniture. Then the next item appeared, ready for Treble to use. And then three chips.

Gregar jogged to Flare. "Why are you being this way?! Seriously, you should be bitter or at least somewhat upset about your situation! How are you so happy-go-lucky about this?!"

There was a sudden wave of force.

"BYE GUYYYYYS!" GS-Treble shouted, the sudden expansion snapping the rope like a blade of grass and knocking the healing machine into a corner. Gregar was unfazed by the explosion, but there was simply no weapon available, or possibly even in existence that would have been capable of physically halting Treble, or dealing upwards of 1600 break damage. The last thing he heard in that place wasn't Flare or SheepMan. Or even Gregar screaming in rage. No, it was a very angry 'MeeP!'

In under a second, Treble was out of the area, and into... a regular PC. _So that place was some kind of basement?_ Treble burst out of the next link, and into the world-wide-web. Then he felt Gregar grab onto his tail. Even with his energy restored... now might not be a good time to fight him, without an actual working connection to Arthur, on Gregar's home territiory, possibly with Alias and even Flare about to burst out as well. "Going somewhere?!" Snarled Gregar.

"THAT WAS FAST." Said Treble, almost impressed.

Then there was another 'MEEP!' followed by a shockwave that dinged off the armor on Treble's right forepaw. He could still feel tremendous force behind the blow though, and looked to see a very angry beast mettaur. Mainly, it had a custom colour palette, in Flare's orange, but also glowing eyes, the Falzar symbol on the front of the helmet and a little pair of wings. It was simultaneously adorable and terrifying.

GS-Treble whipped his tail out of Gregar's grasp and growled at the two pursuers, trying to ward them off. Gregar growled back. Zoano threw his pickaxe, taking Treble by surprise. It wedged itself into the side of his mouth, lodging it open for a second as Treble reflexively attempted to bite down- Falzar's power actually letting the pick suffer nothing worse than a bend. Gregar's aura surged to life, more powerful than ever. A holographic image of Gregar's own original form was clearly visible, and it lunged, swiping hard at Zoano's pick. This was enough to knock it loose, and into Treble's mouth. Treble made a mighty bite at Gregar's aura, expecting it to shatter, but it held firmly, resisting him and protecting both Gregar and Zoano.

"Now, Chip!" Commanded Gregar.

Suddenly, a massive link appeared under Treble. "WHAT THE-" He suddenly had to focus on not getting teleported to who-knows-where. And then Zoano was behind him, and Gregar had a PA loaded.

"Just as Alias taught you! Nobody eats your pick and gets away with it!" Yelled Gregar. "Boost advances, activate!"

'M-ee _eee_ EEEEEP!'

A blue barrier appeared in front of Gregar, and he blasted forwards with tremendous force. Treble had one second to think _'Oh crud, that smells Break element'_ Before getting slammed and losing focus for long enough for the link to take him.

He landed next to a huge tree, in an area with a green background. "...HUH? WHERE IS THIS? ...GREEN AREA?" There was no sign of Gregar or Zoano. Or anything relating to them. Treble mentally shrugged, and logged out.

* * *

Arthur jumped weakly. "Did it!" he sighed.

"Arthur! Man, I missed you so bad! I thought I was done for." Said Treble. "Listen, I think I have a crush on Flare!"

"...nice." Arthur said, with a small smile hinting his grip on reality had failed. Then he collapsed.

"Arthur?! ARTHUR!" Said Treble.

Chaud was on him in under a second. "He's unconscious, breathing normally, but his pulse seems off. Burn, get the emergency services."

 **Author's notes: Want to know what Zoano sounds like? Look for 'angry squeaking frog' on Youtube. On the matter of Gregar pretty easily taking on GS-Treble, bear in mind Treble had no chips, Arthur couldn't see him to support him, and he'd only just been freed from captivity. And Flare was on his mind, for better or worse.  
**

 **By the way, deleted scenes are Non-canon. Just... stuff I decided didn't quite fit but still had some comedic value.**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : Quite a lot happened to Treble, but strangely very little was physical. And... drawing something?! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE? ...Am I going to have to find some way of increasing your name's boldness?**

 **Guest: One truly important part of good character design is knowing the limits of a character. Gregar's mighty, and in a regular netbattle with Treble then Treble would have to pull out all the stops to be able to match him. But he's not invincible, and he doesn't have endless stamina.  
**

 **Actually, FlarexTreble was something I'd been considering for a long while, and had just finally decided on officially adding when you commented! Still, I'm totally ok with you shipping anyone else with each other too! I'm glad you like this so much.**

-Deleted scene-

A small red cube flew out of a link, across the net, soaring into the virtual sky.

"How... how hard did you throw that, Gregar?" Said SheepMan.

"I think I bugged it." Gregar replied. "I have that power too, I just can't use it very well."

"...you made a superball toy, darling. It's bounced off half the surfaces in the PC, including my palm."

"It'll come down eventually. I hope."


	24. Chapter 24: Rest

Treble looked at Arthur worriedly. "Are you absolutely, totally sure he'll be fine?"

"Yes. While trying to stay awake for so long after about five hours sleep the previous night was enough to knock him out once the energy drink wore off, there'll be no lasting damage to your NetOp." Explained a medical navi.

"Whew. I guess I only need to worry about how his parents are going to react when they get here."

"They can hear this conversation through me." Said Mr. Penn's navi.

Mr. Penn spoke. "Look, I don't know how you got kidnapped but I'm just going to say: Whatever you two have been doing needs to stop. I can't have my family putting themselves in danger."

"You're... not mad?"

"Not really. Arthur's grounded for two days, mainly to rest up. But I'm serious! You leave dealing with dangerous criminals to the officials."

"Uh... about that. We kind of volunteered to work with them? We're in a bit of a situation where I can't just... leave things."

"You got into this without telling us?! Arthur always kept to himself, but come on Treble, you're his Navi! Look out for him a bit more. Alright. Just... Get whoever you two answer to speaking. I want to know EXACTLY what you've been up to."

"Ok. But no getting mad at them for my mistake! They didn't get me kidnapped!" Said Treble, dialing Chaud.

Chaud picked up instantly. "Hello? Chaud speaking."

"This is Arthur Penn's father. I want to know exactly what he's been doing behind our backs."

"...I'll meet you at the hospital. You're already on the way, yes?"

"I'll be there in five. Prepare yourself."

* * *

Arthur sat up groggily. "Treble? I just had the strangest dream..."

"You're awake! You were out for a whole ten hours!" Said Treble.

"I dreamed you said you had a crush on Flare." Murmured Arthur. "It seemed so real... I can remember it vividly."

"Um. Yeah. That wasn't a dream. I had it explained while I was over there, and I'm _definitely_ crushing on Flare. She makes me feel like I'm... destroying a bunch of things, but also REALLY nervous, and I kind of want to buy her things but I have no idea what she likes, and I want to touch her face, and, and... just... Flare!"

"This seems like a recipe for disaster, but... screw it. Go for it, buddy. How mad are my parents? Do they know where I've been the last few hours? Is... wait, is this a hospital!?" Arthur jolted around. "I'm in a hospital!"

"Hey, you're awake!" Came a familiar voice. Blaze. The girl herself jogged over. "You scared us pretty good then! Lucky that big bro had you."

"Arthur." Said another voice, a bit more formal. Denny. "I have to say, I don't think anyone can question your bond with Treble after that little stunt. But please, do try not to put us through that more than you must."

"Haha... sorry." Said Arthur. "Hey Blaze, I have a gift for you. Consider it thanks for what I've put you through at short notice. If you go into my bag, there's an ElecPulse3 A."

"Nothing for the rest of us?" Said Denny sarcastically.

"You've already got all the chips... actually, there is one I have that you don't." Arthur patted his waist, relieved to find he was still in his jacket. He fished out his remaining copy of Treble SP. "Take it. I'll make another one for William. No idea what I'll get Joe."

"I think you might need to go back to sleep, Arthur. I can't use this, remember?" Said Denny. "I don't need anything." He stood and stretched. "I'll go make sure Chaud isn't having any issues. Oh yeah, and sorry-not-sorry about the extra difficulty for your next tournament round." He left the room.

"Extra difficulty?" Said Arthur.

Blaze giggled. "Show him, Ember! PlugCross!" She held up her PET. Ember was adorned in thick wires, patterned in more orderly fashion than PlugMan's body, and in yellow as well as black. They flowed from the base of her helmet like long, ropy hair, they wove over her midsection in a protective lattice, and a few yellow wires were attached to the backs of her blades. It was strangely fashionable, considering PlugMan always looked like some kind of eldritch abomination formed of an entire city block's worth of tangled wires.

"We've registered PlugMan as a link navi. Denny decided he could truly count on us after all that." Said Ember.

The door flew open with a 'BANG', nearly ripped off the hinges by Mrs. Penn. She took her hand off the handle, revealing it was now bent at a slightly funny angle. "AAAARTHUUUR!" She shouted, sprinting the length of the room like an olympian. No, not an olympian athlete. Like an olympian god, the mortal incarnation of Hera herself soaring through reality to deliver motherly justice. She all but clamped onto the bedside. "You're not hurt! Oh, thank god! Now, tell me everything. Every tiny little thing. All of it."

Mr. Penn staggered into the room, out of breath. "Jane... wait up, you were always... too fast."

Mrs. Penn frantically gestured for him to come over, while Blaze just awkwardly backed off. There was a short agreement between her and Ember to leave the family alone for now.

"Alright, you'd better tell us everything. Absolutely every. Little. Thing." Insisted Mrs. Penn. "And I promise, here and now, that I won't be mad unless you really, truly did something I have to be mad about."

"Alright." Said Arthur. "But... a lot of it is official secrets."

"We're cleared." Said Mrs. Penn. "Chaud made us sign the secrets act, so you can tell us everything."

"Okay... so, I guess it started when we came to Scilabs the first time..."

* * *

William sat back, running the program. "How do you feel?"

"...What is different?"

"This is a new form. Your old one isn't gone, I've kept it as an artillery mode. But this is now your combat form. CommandoMan. I've diverted power away from your personality, to increase your fighting capability and eliminate any hesitation you might have. You might notice your weapons are much more limited. Your power has been concentrated to just two new weapons. Try forming them."

CommandoMan formed a ridged buster on his right hand, with a grip on the side. Then sheathed it, and looked to his left shoulder. There was a small missile pod.

"These are your Commando weapons. A buster, and bombs. We'll just call them Commando buster and Commando bombs for short. Your buster is based on the one Gregar used against us. It's not as powerful or fast-firing, but unlike Gregar's it has much less recoil and greater stability, so you can move immediately after firing. The commando bombs are smart, fully-controllable missiles that explode only when you tell them to. They pack a huge punch, but can't hurt you. Perfect at any range, but they need a while to reload after you use them."

"These are strong, but not enough. What else have I got?"

"Your armor has been significantly improved."

CommandoMan's helmet was the same shape, but had gained an angular faceplate that matched the rest of it. His bodyarmor was plated twice in some areas, and new sections gave protection to his arms and legs. His previously bulky gauntlets were folded in, subdued, the guns no longer in the way of his hands that now had metal bands protecting them.

"And I've made a low-power active camo. Not really invis, but in any kind of action you'll blend in pretty well. But this is all second to the most important system I've put together. Your integrated targeting system. It's based on the one snipers use, and will automatically pick out weak points in enemies, or important objectives. You can turn it off if you want to conserve energy, but it's just a program for identifying things. I heard some people once tried connecting one to the AI directly, and even if I can't find the specifics they made it _very_ clear it was a bad idea, so... I've held off on that, for now."

"We must train. Find a foe sir." Said CommandoMan in monotone.

"I know just who we need to practice with. For now, revert back to ArsenalMan. I need to check that works."

* * *

Arthur finally stopped for breath. "And... I think that's about everything."

"...Give me a moment to properly grasp you basically went halfway across the globe to infiltrate somewhere and rescue someone, purely because you thought it was the rght thing to do and I'll be ready to respond." Said Mr. Penn.

Mrs. Penn placed a hand on her chin. "It seems like this little family has some work to do. For now, Arthur, you're grounded for two days, and you're not to send Treble outside our local area unless he's called on. You need to recover yourself. And then we'll see about keeping you out of danger."

"You're not mad?" Said Arthur.

"I'm fuming." Said Mrs. Penn. "But if there's one thing I will admit... you have your priorities in order. I'm glad you decided to act rather than stand by and let everything fall apart- but _proud_ that you acted by gathering numbers and working with the officials, rather than alone."

"Nobody can do everything." Added Mr. Penn. "So, we won't get mad at you for doing all this, and taking these risks- as long as you don't make stupid choices, and work with others, then you've proved your judgement is good enough to bet a life on."

"...Thanks. Maybe we should head home for now, then?" Said Arthur.

"For now. Oh, and Treble?" Said Mrs. Penn.

"Yeah?"

"Please refrain from trying to date someone if you're not ready to face the consequences of it. Even if you feel strongly, unless you could convince them to simply turn themselves in... You may be setting yourself up for heartbreak."

"I'll take my chances." Said Treble.

"C'est la vie." Shrugged Mrs. Penn.

* * *

The following day, Arthur woke up and groaned. "What time is it?"

"Noon. I think your sleep cycle is busted. Never thought I'd destroy that!" Said Treble cheerily. "Anyhow, the tournament round against Ember is tomorrow, so rest up today. Let's do something nice and easy."

"...Sounds good. I'm just going to go get breakfast. You can play around in the net for a bit. Treble, hunt." He sleepily pointed the PET's connector to his computer.

Treble entered his homepage. "You know, I don't spend much time in here, but after seeing Gregar's pad I feel like I should put some stuff in my home."

Arthur was already down the stairs.

"Eh, I probably shouldn't put too much in. I still need room to move around when I'm transformed." Said Treble, thinking out loud. "Or I could go and find MathMan and ArsenalMan... It's been a while since I saw them." He walked out into the net. "Or I could destroy something. Man, being responsible all the time kind of grinds me down. I just want to do something reckless, with a massive explosion at the end. But hey, I guess being responsible has it's perks. Like keeping everyone safe." He wandered out further.

Arthur came back in, holding a bagel. "I'm back. I had a bit of an idea as to what we should do today, too!"

"Go on?"

Arthur reached for his pack of chips and pulled out one that he'd never used- since Treble couldn't. "We got that chip from Gregar when he vented to us. ChanceMan SP. I don't have any idea how he got it, but we never really had enough time to properly sweep around for the ghost. Here, I'm sending the data now." He slotted it in. "Don't forget, you can't load it as an attack."

"Okay, I got it." Said Treble. He held it to his nose and inhaled. "...Smells like ChanceMan. Finally, we can get him back. I hope Gallo won't be mad we took so long."

"Eh, he's not even expecting it. It'll be a nice surprise. So, where do we start looking?"

"..." Treble focused. "I don't have any really powerful sensory abilities apart from smell... but I think... I can read the faintest hint of his power over there."

About half an hour later, the conversation had turned back to the cybeasts.

"So how do I tell Flare I have a crush on her, anyway? I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm sure I want to do this right." Said Treble.

"Just... tell her, I guess? I mean, what does she think of you? Or at least, what do you _think_ she thinks of you."

"She thinks I'm a good navi. She argued not to delete me when Gregar wanted to, so I'm basically still here thanks to her."

"She put you there in the first place though?"

"Kind of my fault. I really underestimated her, and Excalibur caught me totally off-guard. Huh, I wonder where she got that? I guess it must have been SheepMan."

"Hey, the beasts both have a legendary sword! The dark katana for Gregar, the light broadsword for Flare."

"Oh yeah!"

"...So on the matter of their chips, did Flare get your Navi chip when she... basically whooped you?"

"Yep, I didn't block it. Actually, she... she pretty much walked over me. She probably got my EX chip." Treble sounded far too happy at admitting he got 'walked over'.

"Well, tit for tat. We got her brother's EX chip." Arthur inspected the chip. I had a side view of Gregar roaring, showing off his frill and jagged teeth well. It was set against a black background, with a few gray lines angled to align with Gregar's maw. "'GBuster, Claw and Aura attack!' Something tells me it's mostly about doing damage."

"Hey, do you think she'd netbattle me if I asked?"

"I don't know, I mean, she's a pacifist and there would be a pretty massive opportunity for you to betray her. Don't forget, you're on opposite sides for the moment."

"Aw, we can totally change that. If we can beat them, I can probably convince the officials not to delete them. In fact, it would only be a disaster if they actually won, right? Then the remaining officials would have a good reason to delete them. They can't take on the entire planet."

"You're underestimating what they could do if they restored their original selves. They nearly destroyed the whole net alone, factor in someone would be operating them this time..."

"Well, I guess we'd better win then! -OOOH! I think we're close!" Said Treble, running ahead. "C'mon, c'mon!"

"Are you sure it's him? Is he still intact?" Said Arthur.

Treble skidded to a halt by a netmerchant, and stared at a floor panel. "Outta the way!" He hustled the merchant to one side and started clawing at the floor. Eventually, he was able to force his hands into a gap between squares, and pry up one. He reached in. "It's definitely in here! IT IS!" He stood up, holding a large golden orb. "About seventy percent of his data. Personality and memory included!"

"Careful you don't bug it. I know you can reign in that power, but if one slips out..."

"Don't worry, you could mistake me for holy with the amount I'm holding them in. Let's get this data restored!"

"Send it to the PC, I'll get the navi restorer up."

* * *

A few hours later, a loading bar finally ticked to 100%.

"At last." Said Arthur. "All the data's been fixed. Treble, do you want to do the honours?"

"Alright ChanceMan... Welcome back to us!" Said Treble, selecting 'run'. The computer slowed down for a second, and the golden orb of data expanded, taking on a watermelon hue.

It formed to the shape of a navi, golden bells on his boots and a slot machine for a torso. He took a deep breath. "Who...?"

"It's me, Treble! I recovered your data!"

ChanceMan opened his eyes. "You know, some say life is a game. I used to be one of them, but I've decided to disagree, now. That was just..." He shook himself. "Terrifying. But hey, you got me back! What have I missed? Where's Gallo?"

"We'll take you to him now." Said Arthur. "He doesn't know we went looking for you."

"Alrighty! Looks like fate's just dealt him a royal flush." Said ChanceMan. "Lead on, my buggy messiah."

"I'm not the messiah... Although that DOES sound like a cool title..." mused Treble. "Yeah, imagine just getting to shout 'I AM THE MESSIAH!' before fighting someone."

"Don't get big-headed, now." Said Arthur. "I hope Gallo's going to be online. Mother's... pretty serious about her groundings, even if they're not too long."

"He'll be online, and that's something you can bet on." Said ChanceMan. "We all help run a family casino! I hope it hasn't fallen apart with me gone."

"Ah, maybe you should guide me, then! I'll just be here in case any viruses turn up." Said Treble.

ChanceMan walked through the well-travelled net that almost everyone in the ara had seen countless times, exuding a kind of wondrous appreciation. "I have to say... It all seems so much better when you're not a ghost."

"I... think I agree?" Said Treble uncertainly. "I don't really remember too much between the times I got deleted."

"You've been deleted too?"

"Twice, technically." Said Treble. "Feels pretty bad, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah. Say, did you manage to kill off that big virus? I couldn't really sense it, since I was drifting away aimlessly."

"We absolutely smashed it."

"Good to know that little gamble paid off. My life for yours."

"I couldn't just leave that favor unreturned." Said Treble. "Hey, is this the place?"

"Sure is. Welcome." Said ChanceMan, entering a computer.

* * *

Gallo was aware of a ditty from his PET. Someone had mailed him. He quickly opened his emails, expecting confirmation of an order. Instead he just found a short message.

'From: hidden

Check your computer!'

He trudged up the stairs, stepped into his room and gave the mouse a gentle poke. Then he shouted. "OHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Gallo?" Said his younger brother, peeping around the corner. "What happened?"

Gallo sunk to his knees, still cheering. "YOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU, YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND, YOU!"

"I'm back, Gallo." Said ChanceMan. "I'm back."

"I'm the luckiest guy alive." Said Gallo. "How did you manage to come back?"

Treble stepped into the picture. "Hi!"

ChanceMan smiled. "Treble searched me out. I knew we could bet on him!"

Gallo took a deep, needed breath. "How can I ever thank you two enough? Look, from now on- you're my bros. My dudes. My buddies. You can call on me anytime."

"Aw, thanks!" Said Treble.

"In fact, you know what? Take this, first of all." Gallo tapped out a few commands, and a P-code appeared in front of Treble. "I'll send you something nice tomorrow, real nice. But for now... mind if I just make up for lost time? You can't win time in gambles."

"No problem. Bye for now!"

"Good luck, you legend! Good luck for as long as you exist!" Yelled Gallo, as Treble left.

* * *

"They seemed pretty happy to me." Said Arthur.

"Understated much?" Said Treble. "Ah, that's a load off. Hey, maybe we should search out a few more BugFrags?"

"Can't hurt. I do want to try out that Gregar chip. I mean, if anyone's going to have a powerful navi chip then it'll be Gregar."

"Well then! Busting it is." Said Treble. "Your mom didn't want me to go outside the local area anyway."

"Eh, it's not thaaat far to the Old Undernet. Then again... I do feel like we should rest today."

"Hold on, I think I smell..." Treble turned and ran down a pathway, coming out in a small clearing. "ArsenalMan! MathMan! Hey there!"

MathMan smiled. "Are you alright? We heard you were safe from Denny, but nothing more."

"Nothing worse than a crush!" Said Treble.

"A crush? What do you mean?" Said MathMan.

"You guys were right, I absolutely, totally have an enormous crush on Flare! I just didn't really realise it until I had it explained!"

"...Oh. Well... we'll do our best to keep her safe for you, then." Said MathMan.

ArsenalMan hadn't spoken.

"Hey, why are you so glum? Something wrong?" Said Treble.

"I must fight you." Said ArsenalMan plainly. "I've been undergoing extensive upgrades. My data can rearrange into a form that I believe will provide a match for you in combat."

"Ooh! Sure thing! I'm always game for a good old fight!"

"I won't hold back. This form was designed to make me a far, far better fighter, but it works by reassembling my programs and diverting a lot of power. I will not have any emotional capacity or capability for mercy. It will be my most serious attempt, from the very start of the fight."

"Just how I like it! You think this area is big enough for us to go at it?"

"...Yes. Stand back, MathMan. Commando mode still needs combat testing against navis." ArsenalMan closed his eyes, as his gatling guns and tank cannons folded in, becoming armor, the missile pods on his boots and inside his chest all being replaced with a single box on his shoulder. His angular faceplate appeared, and a clear yellow visor slid down over his eyes, lighting up.

"Let's go!" Yelled Treble, claws readied and eyes red.

"Uh, okay!" Arthur hastily grabbed his chips. "Treble, destroy!"

CommandoMan raised his buster, and it blazed with rapid fire. Treble was instantly reminded of the Gregar buster, and darted to one side, drawing his right claws back to make a slash. He lunged, and to his surprise, CommandoMan loaded a WideSword and attacked as well, a flawless cut that caught Treble by surprise.

"LongBlade, BugAura in. Don't forget, he has BugStop plus." Warned Arthur.

Treble still tried to be as in-your-face as possible, assuming the same strategy as ArsenalMan would work. The LongBlade found its mark, but then a Commando bomb blasted him back. Treble just about landed on his feet, seeing CommandoMan totally unharmed and about to fire an M-cannon. Treble was only just able to get out of the way of the powerful blast, activating BugAura to protect himself.

CommandoMan raised a hand. "NorthWind."

 _Darn, he came prepared!_ And without missing a beat, CommandoMan launched an attack with MathMan's navi chip. _How did he- UnifyCode, right._ The copy walked forwards calmly, and made one focused swing that Treble just couldn't dodge. While he was just trying to get out of the flinch, He felt buster fire rain on him for a second or two.

"Hang tight there! Thunder, Reflector2, and VariableSword in. Left Down Right!"

Treble was just about able to get in close, trying to minimize the chance the thunder could be dodged by casting it near the target. CommandoMan fired another bomb, but this time Treble was ready for it. The Reflector2 protected him from any harm, even if it didn't hit CommandoMan. Treble prepared to make a quick slash before CommandoMan could load another attack, but then saw- or rather, failed to see where CommandoMan had gone. The thunder however wasn't fooled. Treble saw CommandoMan get paralysed a few paces to the right, suddenly much more visible.

"Alright, Here goes... Gregar, navi chip in."

The copy of Gregar phased into existence by Treble's side, buster out. Treble watched closely, trying to read CommandoMan's health. It fired a burst of shots that did about 40 damage, and then, with huge speed dashed in front of CommandoMan. It made one heavy slash with claws, drawing back and then striking with a bite of glowing green soul energy before disappearing. Each strike had done 100 damage, leaving CommandoMan weak enough for Treble to see he had 570 health left. CommandoMan ran forwards, uncaring of the damage as he loaded a TankCannon. Then he said something. "Targeting system activate." Something that struck a bit of a panic button in Arthur and Treble.

"Oh jeez! ElementBreath, BugCharge, FlashBomb, and Thunder, in!"

"ArsenalMan, don't!" Shouted Treble, suddenly dropping the 'friendly match' level of effort for 'deathmatch'. He sprinted forwards, attempting to slide past the TankCannon but failing and getting blasted. His own health was starting to get low, somewhere in the 400's, but then Treble almost felt something resonate inside him.

"Treble, rip that system out of him!" Said Arthur with complete conviction.

And Treble responded with a focused, snarling "I'll destroy it!". In a split second he'd regained his lost ground from the TankCannon's knockback, and was roasting CommandoMan with an electrical storm of breath. Before CommandoMan could even react, Treble slashed him right in the face, and swung behind him with the BugCharge ready, charged far faster than should have been possible. He grabbed CommandoMan by the back and with a mighty effort, tossed him into the air. Treble's face glowed for a second, before a copy rocketed off, and then another, and another. And before CommandoMan could even hit the floor, Treble had the FlashBomb2 ticking down and the thunder where CommandoMan would land. CommandoMan hit the floor, was paralysed and then flashed, and then Treble leapt forwards, and stabbed his claws directly into CommandoMan's chest.

Treble frowned. "Wait... I think we assumed the worst. I don't sense any of her power."

CommandoMan reverted to ArsenalMan shakily. "You're... too strong."

Treble got off, helping ArsenalMan to his feet. "Uh, sorry about suddenly going full-force on you. Actually, I feel like I hit a new high for power then."

The PET dinged. Arthur checked his emails almost instantly. A new one had been recieved.

'From: System

Congratulations on achieving a 100% synchro rate! A 100% synchro rate increases your Navi's power greatly, but takes a deep connection to achieve.'

"Treble, we hit Full Synchro then! I guess we must have united in panic. Or maybe that was just me phrasing my commands violently. We'll test it out later."

ArsenalMan sat down, his damages carried over. "What power are you talking about, Treble? Why would a simple targeting aid suddenly make you panic?"

"...Did... we tell you about that?" Said Treble. "About Flare's... well, problem?"

"No. What is it?"

"When Flare was Falzar, she apparently had a targeting system installed to allow her to fight without any mercy, or chance of getting distracted. But it drove her mad, because it was linked to her personality. And... well, it will rebuild itself given time. I was worried you'd somehow gotten some of her power. Which is impossible, now that I think about it. But yeah."

"Mine only highlights whoever is attacking me. Nothing more. Still... you're saying that you have a crush on someone who could go insane at any moment?" Said ArsenalMan.

"Pretty much! Anyway, thanks for helping me hit Full Synchro!"

"You're welcome, my ally."

MathMan walked over. "In that case, you're going to need these." He held out a couple of BugFrags. "This is all we have, but it'll help."

Treble wolfed down three BugFrags, and his max health rose to 830. "Thanks! We've got the rest of today off, and only the tournament tomorrow, so... I'm gonna go busting! Want to come?"

"Alright. I'm heading back for a quick repair. I'll catch up." Said ArsenalMan. "I do feel more useful as CommandoMan, but I still need to master that form."

* * *

"So... we'll be fighting Blaze tomorrow." Said Arthur. "You think we can take her?"

"Totally! Sure she's strong, but she can't be too strong." Said Treble. "What's our strategy?"

"Let's open with BugCurse. From what we've seen, Ember takes your own strong point to the very extreme, even faster than you. But you can hopefully outclass her in most other ways. So if we can just reduce her speed a bit, then it should be easy enough. I doubt her health can be too high."

"Don't count on it. I mean, I'm a speedster but I have pretty high health! Plus she's got my cross. I bet that'll make her faster."

"Ohhh, yeah. She does have your cross. Actually, what crosses does she have? Could any potentially counter you?"

"Uhh... I don't know? PlugCross might have a paralysing effect in there somewhere? That could be awkward."

"Right, right... Well, I'll get some aqua chips together. Then it's bedtime."

* * *

Bass groaned.

Crescendo was by his side in a second. "Is she struggling again?"

Bass nodded. "It will pass. But it may not be wise for us to train until I'm fully in control."

Crescendo nodded. "Bass... You'll be okay, right?"

"Of course. It'll take far more than this to kill someone like me. Death answers to me, not the other way around."

"...Maybe you should rest for now, Bass. I... I'll train myself today."

 **Author's notes: WITNESS MY POWER OF SLAMMING OUT AN ENTIRE CHAPTER IN ONE WEEKEND! And with that, we have all eight robot masters from Megaman 10 here in one way or another! Although most have no links to each other. BladeMan was an opponent in the tourney, SolarMan attacked Scilabs, StrikeMan was in development by Eurasia until officials deleted him, NitroMan is a popular battler in Wirope, ChillMan was Denny's cousin's until he was deleted, PumpMan was the second in command of Eurasia forces until deleted, CommandoMan is now ArsenalMan's emotionless alter-ego, and SheepMan is SheepMan.  
**

 **C'est la vie is french for 'That's life'. Not sure if there is actually more than one language in BN, but if not then I guess it could be a pop culture reference.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JANVALENTINE007: Oooooooh! 2 things!? And a gift is something that basically makes me kneel and praise whoever gave it, there is no 'just' for gifts. Someone could give me 100 words and I'd be pretty happy. Good art? Ecstatic!**

 **Guest: We all know a Denny. They just don't need rest, do they? Treble's growth isn't finished yet! And on the SheepMan conundrum... better alive as an enemy or dead as an ally? That's the question. Flare is a truly caring person.**


	25. Chapter 25: Knockout

"Is is just me or is the tree outside dying?" Said Arthur to his mom. The tree across the road seemed sickly, leaves drooping.

She put down her newspaper and looked. "Not just you. It's probably that blooming monitor acting up. Installed to make sure the tree was healthy, makes the tree ill."

"Surely the monitor is computer operated... to stop shenanigans like this. Ah well. I'm off to my tournament match, wish me luck!"

"Of course! We'll be watching it, in fact. Don't be late, now."

"Bye!" Arthur jogged out of the door. "Hey Treble, what do you think's wrong with the tree?"

"I have a really bad feeling about it. A computer that might kill a tree by going wrong should probably be well-protected against going wrong, right? After all, those monitors are in lots of trees, not just the one in the street."

"...You ARE right. I didn't look at it that way, but... yeah, if the problem could easily have killed something rare... it shouldn't ever occur normally. Maybe we'll pop over on the net?" Suggested Arthur.

"If you say so. But I'm not sure how I'll be able to help..."

"Better safe than sorry. Now... game face, on. Blaze and Ember can't be underestimated."

"Heh, I should be the one saying that to you! I'm always ready to get into a fight!" Said Treble happily.

Arthur pushed the door to the chip shop open. "Hello?"

A handful of staff were there, alongside the technicians linking up the netbattle machine to a central arena. William and Joe were waiting in the corner. William stood. "Arthur. Good luck."

"Thanks! I've come pretty far into this, haven't I?" Said Arthur.

"Well, Treble's been doing the fighting." Said Joe. "Before you go in, do you want to borrow any chips from us?"

"...Nothing comes to mind, unless you've got any good B-coded ones. Wait, can I borrow UnifyCode? I can use Gregar's Navi chip with something else, then."

"Yes, here it is." William passed Arthur the chip. "Our navis are waiting in the machine, so give Treble a chance to talk to them."

"Treble, hunt."

* * *

Treble found himself in the waiting area. MathMan and ArsenalMan were the first to come over and greet Treble.

"You'll win, ally."

"But if you don't... well, never mind. You will." Said MathMan.

Both of the navis belonging to Arthur's parents were there too, uncustomised but cheering. "You've got this!"

And then a third navi Treble didn't recognise. They had pure white armor covering all their arms and chest, and a ruby-red jumpsuit that made up their stomach and legs. Their helmet had a pair of quarter-circle crests, and a visor with a piercing red glare behind it. Something about them unnerved Treble. "...Curious." They finally said, voice flat and neutral.

"Uh, who are you? I don't know you?" Said Treble.

"How is it possible for something born purely of imperfection to even attempt to move closer to perfection...?" Murmured the Navi. "I am Beta. An... aquaintance of Ember. I simply seek to bring the world to perfection. So I implore you- push Ember to her very limits. Help her move closer to perfection." Beta said, before turning. They logged out without another word.

"How did that guy get in? Eh, nevermind. Here I go, guys!" Said Treble, stepping into the link.

There was a flash, and he found himself in a huge arena. Taking advantage of the brief moment he had before the fight started, he gazed around, sweeping over the crowd and the deep blue background. He noticed Beta at the very front, watching perfectly still. A navi in thick, light-green armor next to him tapped his shoulder for attention, and the two began to speak. Again, Treble felt some kind of slight uneasiness seeing Beta- and the navi that was apparently his friend.

Ember blinked in, ready for battle. It was obvious from a mere glance she was absolutely ready. They stared each other down for a moment.

"You excited?!" Said Treble.

"We didn't become ace netbattlers for nothing." Said Ember.

The announcer piped up. "AND IN THE SECOND ROUND OF THE NATIONALS! WE HAVE TREBLE, ALL THE WAY FROM COPPERHILL, AND EMBER, FROM CYBER CITYYYYY! ON MY MARK! THREE!"

"TWO! ONEEEEE!" Finished the crowd.

Ember's mask rolled down with a slight clunk, and Treble's tongue disappeared, his eyes switching to full red.

"BugCurse in." Said Arthur. "Try and slow her if you can!"

Ember glowed for a second, and a ghostly copy of Treble appeared around her briefly. There was a tiny 'ping' as she entered TrebleCross, sprouting a tail, a frill, and her armor gaining the shattered look of Treble's.

Treble held out a hand, and a wisp of purple fire blazed for a second before fizzling out. "It... it failed to find a target?" Said Treble. Then it hit him. "My own power is protecting her!?"

Ember rocketed forwards, and Treble realised that in addition to becoming an 'evil' classed navi, his cross increased Ember's already immense speed. He tensed for a second, letting her get close to make the first blow, and then struck at the very last second, his attack both deflecting Ember's cut and letting him nimbly twist behind his target. He tried to cut at her back, but then there was a 'thwip' and Treble was forced to back off a little or get cut with a well-timed MoonBlade. Arthur saw the PET was ready to process the next batch of chips, his new moves already in hand.

"Don't give up. Let's force her into using a different cross. Reflector2, Guard, and RockCube in."

Treble started trying to chase Ember, while he was extremely fast on his feet, faster than even Gregar, Ember was simply coded to be a grey-red blur once her mask went down. She jumped, gaining a little lift from her backpack, and pulled out an M-cannon. It discharged, but then Ember was knocked out of the air, landing with a skidding halt while the reflector disappeared. Treble was almost in her face when she pitched an M-Boomerang without warning, but the Guard stopped it dead and let Treble close the gap. While Ember was undoubtedly faster, Treble did indeed outclass her strength and when she tried to strike with a blade it wasn't hard to overpower her, pushing her back. The jets on Ember's back warmed up, Ember wordlessly trying to use their force to resist Treble, but that plan came to an abrupt end as Ember was almost crushed between the two forces, Treble feeling his claws scratch into the floor beneath him as anchors. Treble was about to try and bite her mask, when Ember made an unexpected attack with a MegaEnergyBomb. Treble had to let her out of the overpowering lock or get blasted, and then there was another 'ping'.

"Alright, now we can hit her! ElementBreath, VariableSword, M-cannon in! Left B Right B."

The blast cleared, revealing Ember's next cross. Her armor was a bright, fire-truck red, and heavier in most places. Hydraulic pistons were visible near her blades, her mask's crest had curved back further, and she was wearing two chunky steel knuckledusters. Ember took a firm step forwards, fearless. Treble spewed sea-blue flames over her, trying to douse her with aqua, but she wasn't a fire navi anymore. Ember didn't flinch either, making another heavy step forwards and driving her fist straight into Treble's mouth, loaded with steam power.

Treble was knocked far back by the force of the blow, nearly falling over. He quickly swung the VariableSword's sonic boom and leapt after it, speed now a much more even match. Ember had still retained her evasive capability, neatly ducking under the sonicboom and coming at Treble with-

 _I smell a program advance!_ Treble had the strangest feeling of deja vu as a FlameHook missed his chest by a finger's width, the second fist nearly slamming him in the side. He threw himself forwards, making a decisive swipe at Ember. Without TrebleCross, bugs would wear her down fast. Ember didn't hesitate at all to put herself into a weighty uppercut. Both attacks found their mark. Treble was sent reeling, but Ember was the worse affected- even if she didn't show it, Treble could feel the bug sapping at her energy, leaving her guard effectively open.

"Thunder, FlashBomb2, BugCharge in!" Said Arthur. Hoping to enter Full Synchro, he added "Destroy her!"

Treble darted in and struck again, this time inserting a movement bug, before hitting her with the thunder and vaulting back, throwing the FlashBomb. All buying time for BugCharge. And then there was another 'ping'. PlugCross was active. The FlashBomb went off, but Ember wasn't affected, almost seeming to drink in the shock of energy. She raised a GreatYo's launcher, and Treble didn't have any options apart from backing off. The blades still just grazed his left gauntlet, dealing high damage. He roared, and BugCharge fired. The first face narrowly missed, Ember trying to dash in, but the next two found their mark. Ember was floored, an Undershirt keeping her in the fight. Treble fired a quick buster shot from his tail and missed. Ember sprung to her feet, coming forwards regardless of her dire situation. She leapt into the air, hovering, and Treble tried to leap up for her when she whipped him straight between the eyes with a metal cable that crackled with electricity. Stunned, Treble dropped to the ground as Ember loaded a ZapRing and extended his brief lockdown.

And then, through her mask, Ember said " _This_ is our Synchro!" Her voice changed a little, Blaze audible alongside her Navi. **"You're toast!** "

She radiated power, and then there was a tremendous whooshing sound like a rocket taking off. Treble made a desperate attack, trying to take Ember out before whatever sound that was actually did something, and she parried. Reaching one health seemed to have put them into some kind of combat trance, laden with determination and adrenaline-fuelled skill.

Then Arthur saw the biggest, baddest most jaw-dropping missile he'd ever seen fly past Ember, warhead flashing red. " _Treble!_ Watch out-"

" **OmegaRocket!"** Said Ember and Blaze.

Treble took a direct hit from the Full Synchro giga chip. Arthur wanted to look away, but simply couldn't as he went from a relatively superior lead in health to zero in a fraction of a second. Treble was completely engulfed in the blast, and Arthur had no doubts that if this weren't a netbattle with safety measures in place Treble would have been utterly deleted, his ghost launched to a far corner of the net.

"..." Arthur sighed. "Treble? Can you hear me?"

"..." Treble was lying on the ground, health zeroed. "..."

"Are you alright?" Said Ember, mask rolling up. She limped over, and tried to kneel by him. Then she snapped her hand back when she touched Treble. "Gyah! Health bug! Uhhhnn... need... some... help..."

Ember collapsed just as the healers ran over. The first one had her up pretty quickly, opening a debug program, while the second gave Treble a MiniEnergy. His eyes opened. "Ow."

"You had me worried there." Said Arthur. "We... never mind."

"We lost." Said Treble, forcing himself to his feet. "..."

"Well fought, Treble. I have to say, I didn't expect I'd be able to pull that off." Said Ember, dropping out of PlugCross.

"You fought well too! I... enjoyed the fight." Treble said. "I'll see you again, I guess."

Arthur noticed the drop in Treble's enthusiasm. "Well... Treble, back. We did our best."

* * *

Arthur stepped out into the street. "Are you okay?"

"I feel awful!" Blurted Treble. "I've let everyone down..."

"Huh? It was just a tournament. Don't get sad over a loss, we weren't depending on a win. Besides, I made mistakes too. I chose not to use BugAura in favor of striking with lots of attacks, but that let her make a comeback with PlugCross' stun."

"But everyone was so sure I was going to win! What if they're disappointed?"

"Well, they're not. Once you get that far into a tournament, you just can't count on winning. Besides, you enjoyed the fight, right?"

"...I did enjoy the fight. Well... I guess if you're sure..."

"It's okay to have a bit more self-confidence. If Ember hadn't been using Undershirt, your BugCharge would have wiped her out. In a rematch, you'll know to have your buster ready the second she drops to one health. Just don't beat yourself up, ok?"

"Ok!"

Joe shrugged. "Hey, you got pretty far. And they send people who reach the nationals a prize once they drop out, so you'll get that soon."

William nodded. "Besides, you could use the extra time. Gregar's still out there."

"Where's Denny, anyway?"

"Looking into Morgan. He can't prove anything officially... but he thinks that Morgan might actually be up to something." Said Joe. "For now... shall we just go on the net?"

"Sounds good!" Said Arthur. "I heard they installed a new entry point at the park. We can sit together."

* * *

CommandoMan hit the floor. Treble pulled him up. "Better!"

CommandoMan reverted. "...Thank you, ally. But until I can beat you, it's not good enough."

"Aw, you'll get there." Said Treble. "Maybe you should aim for Ember instead? Set your bar even higher?"

"Heh. It's good to know Ember's so strong. She's actually close to ProtoMan at an estimation, and we both know his reputation." Said ArsenalMan.

Treble suddenly looked over his shoulder. His tail curled involuntarily. "Did you just feel something? Like we're being watched?"

"...No. MathMan, you have better analytics. What about you?" Said ArsenalMan.

"I don't feel anything." Said MathMan. "What is it you feel?"

Treble turned, and then yelped in surprise. "OW!" There was suddenly a heavy weight on his tail. He reached behind himself and grabbed it by the base, pulling it in front of himself to reveal a mettaur clamped to the end. "Zoano?!"

"Zoano?" Said MathMan in confusion.

"Flare's pet Mettaur. What's he doing here? Hey, maybe that means Flare is near!" Said Treble brightly. "I've been waiting to tell her I've got a crush!"

"There's a text file stuck to it..." Said MathMan. He peeled it off Zoano's foot. "Captured. Powerful virus. Need help. BotanicalResearchComp. Bring friends!"

"...I hate to say it, but it might be a trap." Said ArsenalMan. "But... You'd go no matter what, and I wouldn't let you go alone, Treble."

"BotanicalResearchComp." Said Treble worriedly. "MathMan, get everyone together. Arthur, advance. ArsenalMan, hold on tight, we're going for a wild ride."

"On it." Said MathMan. "Sending an email to PlugMan and Ember. I'll have it ready to go to ProtoMan and SteamMan if need be."

"Origin ready. Treble, just this once... take the fastest route. I'll deal with the consequences." Said Arthur.

Treble transformed, launching Zoano away, and held his tail down for a second. "HURRY!"

ArsenalMan scrambled on, and grabbed the centre frill. "Read-Aaah!"

Treble took off like a train, bounding out of the area in the fastest possible route to the BotanicalResearchComp. Even if his acceleration wasn't fantastic, once he got moving then he was easily ten times faster than weaving through the pathways. A few navis screamed as Treble hurtled past at full speed, but thankfully no squares were in the way. It took barely a minute to get close enough to see the problem.

"WHAT THE-"

Bushes. Bushes as far as the eye could see, growing rapidly.

"Where are all these plants coming from?" Said Arthur.

"FLARE'S IN THERE SOMEWHERE!" Treble took a deep breath. " **FLARE! I'M COMING, FLARE!"** He bounded in without another word, the bushes all growing some kind of defence mechanism. A few exploded into spores, some grew spikes, and others hardened and became tough, but against Treble's iron-like hide it was meaningless. He just trampled them beneath him, sniffing periodically.

"These plants are being controlled by a virus. Perhaps if we take out the source, they'll disappear?" Said ArsenalMan.

"I'M FINDING FLARE FIRST!" Treble suddenly froze, catching a smell. "SHE'S THIS WAY!"

* * *

MathMan and Ember came to the edge of the jungle. The path Treble had carved was already regrowing. "...I'm going to mail ProtoMan and SteamMan." Said MathMan.

"These plants might be able to heal up fast, but let's see how they like THIS!" Said Ember, hacking into the nearest one with a heated blade. It fell apart.

"Be careful. Somehow, these plants got the better of a cybeast." Said MathMan. There was a rustling, and for a second a face with burning red eyes was visible in a bush next to Ember, before a wooden spike nearly stabbed her in the side. MathMan neatly cut it in half. "Case in point."

The face reappeared on Ember's other side and she cut it in half before it could attack. "Got it!" And then in front of her. All too soon, it was a desperate battle to keep the plants back.

* * *

Treble scrabbled at a corner, ripping away a curtain of plant life. More was beneath it. "FLARE! JUST HOLD ON A LITTLE LONGER!" Eventually, he realised he was nearing the floor, and was able to just about push his muzzle into the vegetation. As careful as could be, he pressed his jaws together, and pulled his head up. Flare was held in his mouth, barely conscious.

"Treble...?" Said Flare, eyes opening. "Did Zoano reach you?"

"YA. CLIME ON. I CARN SPEAK WIYOUT BI'ING YU." Said Treble awkwardly, releasing his bite so Flare could climb onto his face.

She exhaustedly managed to get out of Treble's jaws and walk along his head, defences designed to resist Gregar's bugs just about withstanding Treble's skin. "We have to rescue Gregar and Alias... please."

"I'LL DO MY BEST. LOOK, SINCE WE MIGHT GET DELETED HERE, I'VE BEEN MEANING TO SAY... I THINK I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU!" Said Treble, looking for another mound of plants.

"Wh-what?" Squeaked Flare.

"Jeez, Treble, you could've given her a second before dropping that on her! Her brother is still in danger!" Said Arthur.

"I SEE ANOTHER MOUND OF PLANTS OVER THERE! HANG ON GUYS!" Announced Treble, walking forwards while ArsenalMan made sure Flare stayed balanced. She was barely able to keep herself balanced and awake, far too low on energy to try and think about what Treble said on top of that. Treble came to the next huge mound. He tore away what he could and again dipped in his mouth. This time, he pulled out an unconscious Gregar.

"Brother! Wake up!" Called Flare.

Gregar coughed, the sudden jerk causing him to smack an arm into one of Treble's sharp teeth. "Flare!?"

"Just climb up!"

"CARE'UL!" Said Treble, relaxing his grip. Gregar wasted no time getting to safety, his ever-present rage replacing his lost energy.

"What... happened?" Said Gregar. "How did it get so smart?"

"Smart?" Questioned ArsenalMan.

"It backed off after we made a dent the first time. Then it struck again when we split up. How did a virus think so well?"

"WHERE'S ALIAS THEN?" Said Treble.

Flare looked around. "I... I'm not sure. We sent him to the right. I'll try and fly up, maybe-"

"NOPE. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO RISK YOURSELF, FLARE. JUST LET ME GO SEARCH THAT PLACE." Treble walked on, crushing through the mass of bushes. "HE SHOULD BE AROUND HERE, RIGHT?"

ArsenalMan looked around. "I see the location. Turn seventy degrees right and just run. You saw what state these left the beasts in."

"HOLD ON TIGHT GREGAR! ARSENALMAN, GRAB HOLD OF FLARE!" Yelled Treble, charging through the bushes. All the while, they were attacking him with continually more deadly moves, but Treble just wasn't ever making himself vulnerable.

The bushes around Alias were starting to writhe when Treble got there. He swiped, and then bit and swiped again. There were still many, but he forced his head in and got hold of Alias. It was actually a struggle to pull him free for fear of causing even further damage, and once he did get out it became clear Alias was in deep trouble. The plants had been merciless, he was unconscious and the energy drain had eaten through his health and had been under a minute from deleting. And then there was the problem that unlike Gregar and Flare, he wasn't immune to bugs. His midsection had discoloured at Treble's touch, and while Treble was transformed and radiating much stronger bugs than normal...

"Alias? Treble, we have to get him back to safety now!" Said Flare. "You're going to delete him if you hold him too long!"

"SOME'UN 'OME GRAB 'IM!" Said Treble awkwardly. "I 'IGHT 'ITE 'IM WHEN I RUN!"

"Hold steady." ArsenalMan climbed over and crouched on Treble's face. He was able to grab Alias under the shoulders and hoist him out, carrying him back to the secure area by Treble's frill. "Flare, are you strong enough to stay balanced?"

"Yes. I'll be fine. Quick, Treble! Please, crush or not- Please save him for me!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASK! WE'RE GOING!"

"Wait, what?" Said Gregar, before Treble set off at a quick walk, pacing through the bushes. They were throwing everything they had at him, striking with massive amounts of wood and leaves and sharp branches, but none was break element, so the bushes might as well have been cotton wool.

Flare looked at Gregar kind of sheepishly. "Um... well, you see... Treble... he..."

"I HAVE A CRUSH ON HER! I WAS WAITING TO TELL HER IN PERSON!"

Gregar's jaw dropped a bit. "Treble. Are you insane?" He said in a rather plain tone.

"NOPE! I'M TOTALLY SURE I WANT TO DATE HER! UH, IF SHE WANTS TO, I MEAN, UM, FLARE, YOU NEVER REALLY GOT ROUND TO ACTUALLY RESPONDING..." Said Treble.

Flare looked out over the veritable sea of grass. "I'll date you. You... you've always been very nice to me, even though we've always been enemies."

Gregar just held his breath for a few seconds. "Flare, I don't think this is a good idea... but if you're sure..." He got to his feet, ignoring the wounds inflicted by the plants. He carefully walked forwards, and leaned over towards Treble's ear and whispered. "If you break her heart, I will end you as humiliatingly as possible."

"NOTED."

"I think I see the edge! Are those navis trying to attack the plants?" Said Flare.

"Yes, that's MathMan at the front there." Confirmed ArsenalMan. "We're going to have to call in all the reinforcements we possibly can to kill off this infection before it kills all the trees being monitored. Gregar, Flare. Do you know exactly how we can kill this virus?"

"It's a WuNote." Said Gregar. "But I think it got left alone for a VERY long time with my power. It's had weeks to generate a lot of bushes to hide in, and it can move between them instantly. We'd have to destroy every single bush in order to corner it."

"But the bushes only have a couple of hit points each. Even regular old busters can destroy one quickly." Added Flare.

"But there are thousands." Said ArsenalMan. "And all the while that virus is counterattacking."

"It can't counter at range. It only got us because it baited us into a trap."

Arthur considered this info. "I'll get my parents. Uncustomised navis still have busters, and this is a race against time."

"Yes. This is going to be a true team effort." Said ArsenalMan. "William, should I mobilize the cadets?"

"Yes." Said William. "If only we could open a link to bring them here quickly..."

"We've got you covered." Said Gregar. "Ethan has reached the research centre. In about a minute, we'll be able to give Chip coverage of this place."

"SAY AGAIN? CHIP? ETHAN? COVERAGE?"

"Need to watch my mouth..." Mumbled Gregar, tiredly "Look, just tell me where you want the link's entrance posted!"

"Here." ArsenalMan held up a map.

"Alright, just tell your guys to hold on there for a minute." Said Gregar. "Are the officials coming?"

"Already here." Said ArsenalMan. "Well, some of them, anyway."

Treble burst out of the edge of the field, and lay down so everyone could dismount. "HEALER!" He yelled.

A small array of navis had already formed. Treble could see MathMan, PlugMan, Ember, SteamMan, Zero, both of Arthur's parents and Joe's parents, ChanceMan, BladeMan and ElastoWoman, Beta and his friend in the thick green armor, and some navis Treble didn't even recognise. It was an amazing show of force, dozens of navis banded together to fight a common foe and protect their home, the hail of fire eating into the plants at walking pace.

Roll ran over. "Healer present! Who's hurt?"

ArsenalMan picked up Alias and carried him over. "He needs a debug as well."

Treble tried to whisper to Gregar and Flare. "USE, AHem, your disguises."

Gregar sighed, and transformed. Flare took a few seconds and also hid herself before coming down. Roll looked up. "If you're not critically damaged, just wait while I stabilise this Navi! Don't worry about the plants, Mega will be here soon! He loves doing heroic stuff like this."

And right on time, MegaMan and ProtoMan arrived. "Sorry we're late!" Called MegaMan. "Hold on... is that Colo-"

"Never mind that right now." Said ProtoMan. "We need to rush or we're going to lose a huge amount of trees!"

"R-Right!" Said MegaMan.

* * *

It was a storm of destruction, carving a path into the jungle. Gregar seemed to have retained his buster while disguised, and a link had opened to allow a dozen navis operated by military cadets to join the fight. Over thirty Navis were pushing in, and even after splitting in half to cover low and high ground they were utterly steamrolling the virus' handiwork. And at the forefront was Treble, in his element: destruction.

Once at the back, the enemy finally became visible. A little tag identified it as 'WuHighMax'. More bushes kept appearing to defend it, and the branches were whipped about in dangerous techniques, but the sheer number of competent fighters had it beat. While most of the navis just laid down suppressing fire, Gregar walked forwards.

And MegaMan stepped forwards to join him. "ColonelCross, activate. I always hoped you survived if Gregar did, Colonel." There was a 'ping' as MegaMan gained armor that resembled Gregar's disguise.

Gregar looked straight ahead, usure what to say. And then words leapt into his mouth. "...Focus, MegaMan. Don't waste the future I gave you on this virus." He looked back. "EVERYONE! THIS IS OUR FIGHT!" A new part of the disguise appeared. A red-handled saber. Gregar looked at it uncertainly, but inside, he was sure he already knew how to use the weapon.

MegaMan formed an identical one. And they leapt into battle, while the army held back.

Gregar found the blade was devastatingly powerful, his memory of it slowly piecing together. He slashed in tremendous arcs by pure instinct, wiping out rows of WuHighMax's bushes. And when things got bad, he still had his buster and cybeast speed to fall back on. Just because he wasn't as fast as Treble or Ember didn't mean he was slow- quite the opposite. MegaMan was summoning all manner of items that exploded to reveal soldiers, cutting with the blade at every opportunity, giving Gregar all kinds of chances to do damage. Gregar seized every one, and then saw the gap he needed in the virus' defences. But then it formed a towering column of leaves, too great for Gregar's buster to even scratch. MegaMan tried to cut with the sword, and it bounced off.

"Alias! Hit it with SunMoon!" Commanded Gregar.

Alias walked forwards. He'd been run ragged by his own drive to help- fighting to his very hardest even after being snatched from deletion's grasp. His armor was almost breaking apart and his buster was glitching out, sparking. And his eyes glowed with determination. "You got it! Meteors! Attack plus 30! And Uninstall! SunMoon!" A satellite appeared over his head, blazing with red fire. "RedSunMeteor!" A barrage of flaming rocks launched into the leaf shield, eating away, and then the satellite shimmered with blue light. "BlueMoonLaser!" A death ray burned forwards with a whirrr, and even touched through to WuHighMax at the end of the cast. Then the satellite flashed red again, and kamikaze'd into the barrier with a tremendous explosion, enough to make everyone cover thier eyes.

Yet a few bits of the barrier persisted dumbly. Alias wasn't having any of that. "I'm _not_ done yet! Ciel system activate: Recalling SunMoon!" He gritted his teeth as his buster stopped sparking, the light in his eyes faded out, and even his wounds ceased glowing. The satellite reappeared.

"RED SUN METEOR!" The barrage of rocks was even stronger, every one hitting like a bomb.

"BLUE MOON LASER!" The laser went straight through the WuHighMax, searing every inch of the virus, even though it's defences held. The satellite flew in once again with a thunderous blast. Alias fell to the ground, unmoving. The WuHighMax was badly damaged, and truly vulnerable. Alias still tried to struggle to his hands, until his operator decided to log him out before a stray buster peller caught him.

"I'll show you!" Shouted Gregar. He leapt high into the air, and drew the sword close to his chest, level with the virus. He twisted, and with one absolutely almighty swing he cut a 'Z' shape over the virus. He flickered briefly, and then there was a surge of green aura from Gregar's being, and he dashed down to deliver one final blow. The energies coalesced into Gregar's original head, and the mouth opened wide. With an earth-shattering CRUNCH the jaws closed around the WuHighMax, and it exploded into bits, dissolving. Gregar stood straight as a few wisps of power flowed into him. "It's over."

"Colonel, I can't believe you're back! I missed you so much after what happened in Cyber city!" Said MegaMan.

ProtoMan placed a hand on his shoulder. "...MegaMan. That's not Colonel. We didn't want to tell you because of how much you cared about him... but that's only Colonel's body. Or, what's left of it after it self-destructed."

"What?! But then... the only other one who could have used that attack..."

Gregar sighed. "His body was the only option. I have not... fully forgiven you for what you did to me. And in time, I'll take my power back." Gregar logged out before anyone could respond.

MegaMan was quiet. "...Colonel..."

Treble shifted back and looked to Flare. "So can I have your email before you log out?"

Flare quickly passed Treble an address, before following suit.

ProtoMan looked around. "Well, either way, the threat has been contained. I thank you all for your service at such short notice. We'll be conducting an official enquiry into how things got so bad, so I must ask you leave here for now so as not to disturb anything. We'll mail everyone a chip, if you give me your addresses now... apart from you, Ember."

"Huh? Me?"

"I have something else in mind for you." Said ProtoMan.

* * *

"So, did she reply yet?" Said Arthur.

"N-no... what if she gave me the wrong address?!" Said Treble.

There was a ping. "OOOOHHHH!" They said in unison. Treble had it open instantly.

"From Flare... 'Meet me at the old BBS you use tomorrow at twelve. I'd like to come and see more of your area! But we can't go battling, in case I lose control.' It's a date Arthur! It's a Daaaaate!" He squeaked.

"It... it's a date." Echoed Arthur. "I'd better get you ready."

 **Author's notes: And a chapter that has heavy focus on both of the main characters of the other two authors I'm working with! Plus some screentime for Alias. Treble finally lost a match he genuinely cared about, and also Gregar/Colonel stuff. Lovely.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : I've never watched DBZ, and had trouble really enjoying the fights due to the heavy abuse of charging attacks, BUT I will openly admit Goku's super saiyan form and Kamehameha are the coolest things ever, and the scene he achieves SS is really well-done once you ignore 'charging abuse'. Also, your teacher would just buy you markers? What a great guy! And the other... O.O What iissssss ittt?! My hype is over 8000!**

 **RandyPandy: Yeah, while you can hide a lot of things from parents once you either gain fame or disappear for several hours without warning... any good parent should catch on to that. Oh, and thanks for the info on language!**


	26. Chapter 26: Flare

Arthur leaned forwards. "Alright, so I think that's everything you can and can't do on a first date. Are you nervous?"

"...Terrified." Said Treble, unconsciously scratching a groove into the floor with his foot. The old Undernet was already a mess, thankfully.

"Me too. I'm not even the one who's a part of this date. Look, we've got a bunch of zenny saved up, so if she wants to go to the cafe and try the coffee don't hesitate. Aagh, I'm better at planning battles!"

"I'm a fighter by nature... but I really think I like Flare a lot. Like, it feels like I'm burning when I'm near her but in a good way?"

"Well..." Arthur looked at the clock. "We're half an hour early. I'm going to make a grilled cheese. If Flare turns up early too, you can just go ahead. I'm sure everything'll be fine."

"I'm not! What if she doesn't like the area! What if... if... I don't know! I don't get scared normally! I can look down Gregar's buster and laugh! But this!? This?!" Treble threw his hands in the air. "What do I _do_?!"

"Just... chat, I guess. And take her for a walk. It can't be that hard."

"...Right, right." Treble looked at his hands. "I'm just going to go bust up some weak viruses. They... won't bother me right now."

"Without chips?"

Treble walked over to a Quaker. It shuffled back a bit, and then jumped away. "...Yep, they feel it. My nervousness. Literally enough to scare off something with barely any mind."

Arthur was gone.

"Well... I guess I am technically a half-virus. That probably helped it pick up on me. Uuurgh, I wish this waiting would end quickly so I couldn't be nervous!"

* * *

Treble looked up suddenly. "Someone's coming!"

"Who? Flare?" Said Arthur.

Treble scrambled to the top of the BBS. "It is Flare! Flaaare! Hiiii!"

Flare ran over, disguised. "Treble. I hope I didn't keep you waiting! Just, SheepMan was a bit worried. He wanted to hire someone to guard me, but... I know I can count on you."

"T-thanks! I... Where should we go first? There's a square, and, and there's a couple of veiwing stations, and over there there's the Secret Area, or maybe-" Stammered Treble.

"Slow down a little bit. Are... you alright, Treble? You seem shaken." Said Flare.

Mentally just screaming, Treble said "I-I'm ok!" He took a deep breath. "So, there's our square, which is closest, and if we go west from there then there's a few cameras we can look through that pan over the countryside, but if you want to fight something then we could go look in the Secret Area by there."

"Let's go to your square! Lead the way. Come on, the targeting system's been quiet lately. We could probably walk next to each other." Offered Flare.

"Okay! Just follow me and we'll be right there. What... what should we talk about?" Said Treble hopefully.

"...I'd like to know some more about your friends. And you. We hardly know anything about each other, even if we're close." Said Flare.

"Um, so... I guess my best friend would be my NetOp, Arthur. He's the one who actually found me and took me to Scilabs to get fixed."

"Fixed?" Flare asked with light curiosity.

"Oh, I was a real mess at first. All my bugs affected my regular programs, so I kept damaging myself. But then this guy called Yuichiro was able to fix that. I'm still totally made of bugs, but they don't affect me now. Uh, where was I? Right, Arthur! Well, he's been with me every step of the way. And he really cares. We balance each other out! I've got energy, he's got planning. So... next is MathMan."

"The yellow one?"

"Yeah! that's him. So, he's basically unshakable. The rock. The emotional stronghold. I've only seen him panic once, and that was when he was facing down Bass without a weapon. Totally awesome. He's super reliable too, if he says something then you know he'll be right. He's the only Navi I've given my SP chip to."

"Hmm... you know, he actually beat Gregar in that fight at the business area. It was a bit chaotic, and Gregar was still a bit weak at the time, but MathMan really did beat him."

"I wonder if things would be different if they had a rematch? Speaking of which, I never got around to having one with him."

"I think Gregar would probably win now... but of all your friends, MathMan is the one I just can't really estimate the power of. Tell me about someone else?"

"Okay... so there's ArsenalMan. He used to be this really military fighter, always ready to jump into action and lay down his life for his cause, but... I caused a bug in his personality. He's quite soft-spoken now. Still, he's really grateful you saved him. And PlugMan."

"PlugMan kind of scares me." Said Flare. "You... you won't tell him I said that, will you?"

"No! I- no. It wouldn't bother him though. He's actually the most helpful one of us, but I don't see him often. He's always off doing stuff. He's a social chameleon. I'm not sure if PlugMan has a real, main personality, or if he just makes one to work in each situation. Plus he's got loads of chips. I think he only needs two basic chips to get a full collection."

"Maybe I should tell you about someone?"

"Tell me about Alias! I barely know anything about him."

"Well... he's a really upstanding guy. He fights for justice, to be a hero to the people he cares for. And he does a pretty good job too! Plus... I feel like there's something about him that sees things for what they really are. He never feared us. He never believed what other people said about us. He looked and made up his mind on his own. Oh, and he's great with Zoano!"

"Yeah, Zoano... yeah. Well, I guess the only other close friend you don't know much about is Ember!"

"Wasn't she that navi that knocked you out of the tournament?"

"You saw that?"

"We watched it live! She got so lucky dodging that buster shot."

"Haha, yeah. But she beat me fair and square. I don't know her too well, since she lives over in Cyber city, but she's a really devoted fighter. And she's brave and curious, which is a good combination for finding stuff out."

* * *

They stepped into the square together. "So this is my area's square! We've got a coffee shop over there, and a couple of chip vendors by there, and a BBS by there!" Said Treble, pointing at each one in turn.

"It's not that different to ours... but when I look at it, something seems special. Should we go and see what they sell in the market here?"

"Sure!"

The market's vendors had a SubChip dealer, a BattleChip dealer and a Program dealer. Normally Treble would have ignored the last one, but Flare wandered over. "Hey, they don't sell these back at our area." Said Flare.

"Which ones?"

"Collect. I wonder if it would be useful?"

"It would make it way easier to get stuff like ElecPulse. Those viruses are so annoying to delete quickly."

"Vendor, I'd like to buy this program!" Said Flare.

"Um, let me pay! My gift." Offered Treble. "How much?"

* * *

The next place they visited was the viewing array.

"I never knew about this place! Wow, these cameras can see for miles!" Said Flare, as the view panned around to a few hills.

"I never visited before now, I never had the chance." _And this isn't really my thing..._ "What do you like about the view?"

"Hmm... It makes me feel free. Like my troubles are so far away..."

"Well... maybe we could stay a little bit longer, then."

* * *

After, they returned to the square, heading for the coffee shop. "So I saw you got a virus breeder, how does that work?"

"Well, Gregar spends a lot of time hunting down viruses to train on, so he gets a lot of spare chips. If you give the virus breeder enough of one set of chips, and a bit of other data, it can make a pet version of a virus!"

"Oh, like Zoano."

"Yes, we're looking for other ones now. The problem is that you need to find and record a 'rare' virus too. They're really hard to find."

"Ooh! I know a place you can find some rare viruses! But it's pretty dangerous there. Are you ready for fighting?"

"Where is it? I... I have to always be ready to fight. The officials are still after me, after all..."

"Oh, it's the Secret Area near that old BBS! You need 'true strength' to get in, but honestly? I'm pretty sure that's just fancy talk for 'be a decent person'."

"We'll have to go there. I-" Flare turned and looked at the navi behind them. "..."

"H-huh?! What's wrong?" Treble turned as well, to see ProtoMan. "Oh."

"You're under arrest. Will you come quietly?" Said ProtoMan.

"...I have no faith that you want to help me, or that you can delete me permanently. Nor do I want to leave Gregar alone to face you." Answered Flare.

ProtoMan's expression was unreadable behind his visor. "Treble. Help me end this fight quickly."

"WHAT?! Y-you can't ask me to fight her!" Said Treble.

"You'll help me?" Said Flare hopefully.

"I... I just... I don't want you two to fight each other!"

ProtoMan leveled his sword. "It is for the good of the whole net that we must capture her. You know she can't stay sane forever."

Flare looked forwards, her disguise starting to break. "I've made more progress against myself than ever before. I can't give up now. I can't."

"Treble, your duty binds you to help me."

"Please. I know you care about me!"

"I..." Said Treble, uncertainly.

"I know you're loyal to us, Treble. And I know this is difficult to accept. But Falzar is beyond saving."

"I... I can't side with one of you against the other! I don't want to betray anyone! Not the officials who helped me, not the beasts fate screwed over, none of the people I care about! Just leave, for now. I think we can solve this without a fight! I... Fighting is for the enemy! And neither of you are!"

"...You're so naive." Said ProtoMan.

"...Stand aside, Treble." Said Flare, something subtly different in her voice, soft as iron. "...I've had enough."

"Yes. Stand aside, if you're truly so conflicted. We'll settle this ourselves." Agreed ProtoMan.

Flare looked down, and her disguise disappeared instantly. The noise in the square ceased in a few seconds as she spread her wings out behind her, letting her power radiate.

"Log everyone out, ProtoMan! I know you have the power to!" Urged Treble.

ProtoMan clicked his fingers, and the square emptied.

Flare stared at him. "The officials are responsible for every bad thing that's ever happened to me." She said quietly, but her tone was accusatory. "And every bad thing to happen to Gregar. Your Alpha system tried to delete him, and you blindly followed. Then when Alpha was found to be the cause of the net's problems and taken down, you kept going. You kidnapped me and made me into what I am. And that's not all. SheepMan. NetGaia. How many lives have you torn apart, for your own sakes? ...ProtoMan. This is for me!"

In just a fraction of a second, Flare was trying to rake her talons across ProtoMan, but he was too fast, out of the way a moment before the attack could connect. Flare readied her buster, and before ProtoMan could react everywhere around him was being pelted with sharp blade-like shots. He dashed forwards ignoring the ones that found their mark, and swiped with his sword. Flare disappeared in a faint flash of light with an AreaSteal, and ProtoMan instantly teleported in front of her to try and hit with another swipe. This time, Flare nimbly kicked him in the face while dodging, the claws on her feet leaving a long cut across ProtoMan's visor.

"Program advance! Accelerate!" Called Flare, and there was a faint blue glow as ProtoMan recovered his stance. He tried to get in close to strike, but Flare's speed had increased and she moved first. Just as a red shield started to materialise in front of ProtoMan, hoping to capitalise on the increased speed, Flare thrust a DrillArm forwards and punched right through. Then Flare backpedaled, her wings letting her move however she saw fit.

An orange barrier materialised around ProtoMan, and he drew a glowing golden sword with an elaborate handle. But Flare wasn't intimidated. As ProtoMan rushed forwards to try and make a strike with the HeroSword, she suddenly leapt into the sky, dodging completely, and then in a show of brutal efficiency she summoned a RockCube, which fell like the ton of bricks it was, directly towards ProtoMan. ProtoMan was seemingly stunned by the clever tactic, the tiny moment of confusion at what Flare was doing costing him his barrier. Flare dropped down behind the cube, and Treble saw her summon something before ProtoMan tried to teleport through. The Guardian statue did not take kindly to a stepsword in the face. As ProtoMan was blasted by the punishment attack, Flare flew up and shot a Thunder. But it harmlessly bounced off ProtoMan's shield as he pulled out his next sword. NeoVariableSword.

"Double LifeSword!" Called ProtoMan, warping behind Flare this time. Flare didn't have the chance to dodge, both strikes hitting her across the back. But before ProtoMan could combo the attack with another one, Flare shot an AuraHead3 straight into his chest, knocking him to the ground. ProtoMan flashed for a second, his blade turning orange. "Emulation successful."

"Sanctuary!" Called Flare, the ground below her plating itself in holy panels. ProtoMan disappeared and reappeared with deadly speed, attacking from every conceivable angle with his blade and throwing out SonicBooms like they were going out of style. Yet Flare seemed to know every move he was making, dodging and striking in time with the frenzy. But one decisive blow caught across her chest, and she was knocked out of the air.

"I can't lose! I must _win!_ **"** Flare didn't sound like Flare anymore. A red aura appeared around her, occasional hints of a great bird manifesting in the energy. The counterpart to Gregar's soul aura. Flare's fighting style changed like a light turning on. ProtoMan lunged and Falzar held her hand out and a whirlpool appeared, sweeping ProtoMan back in a raging current. Before he had a chance to react, Falzar beat her wings once and a powerful gust of wind formed a tornado around ProtoMan, a prison of air.

ProtoMan crouched a little, then faster than could even be followed, there were three cuts in a triangle around Falzar, and ProtoMan was facing the other way. "Delta Ray Edge."

Falzar's aura withdrew into her body at the strike, leaving the wounded beast exposed. She launched a pair of Wing Boomerangs, and ProtoMan blinked to hit her with stepcross. Just as it seemed ProtoMan was going to win, Falzar surged with power, an intense wave of energy that threw ProtoMan to the ground. Falzar rose a few feet, Excalibur appearing in her hands. But the power washing around her roiled, wrapping the blade with red energy that exuded madness and might.

"Die." Said Falzar plainly, thrusting the blade once gleaming white, but now charred black, down.

Treble felt it rip through his health like tissue paper. Falzar- no, _Flare_ suddenly looked out of her murderous craze. And she saw Treble with the sword straight through his navi mark, the tip of the blade just a slip away from ProtoMan's body.

Suddenly, Flare clapped her hands over her beak. "No!"

"Stop... please... stop..." Treble slumped forwards a bit, energy automatically going to keeping him alive.

The deathly Excalibur disappeared, and Flare caught Treble as he fell. Her disguise seemed to reactivate instantly, but it wasn't the same. The dress was tattered, and red. "Treble, no! TREBLE! I'm sorry!"

"... Flare... I'm glad..." Treble's voice stopped working.

Arthur had already broken out of the stunned shock, blazing through menus as fast as possible. Finally, he found the emergency logout he hadn't needed before, and jabbed it. Treble reappeared in the PET, within an inch of his life. "Repair programs!? Where's the repair program?!" And in a second, it was open with Treble plugged in.

'Caution! Serious damage sustained. Repairs may take a while!' Pinged the computer.

* * *

Flare looked at her hands. "I... did I..." She collapsed, to her knees. "Please... please, this can't be happening! What have I done? I..." her disguise failed completely, leaving her in her true form. "I did this. I should have listened. This is my fault. I did this. I... did this." She stood up, holding her hands over her injuries. "I did this. I did this." She spread out her wings and lifted off, looking up. Anywhere that wasn't the square below.

"..." Flare soared higher, ignoring the ping to log out from the PET.

"..." Another ping. Without a second thought, Flare dismissed it. She focused her power for a second, a flew forwards at top speed, far away from the square. But no matter how fast she pushed herself, she could still see it. She could still see Treble with her own sword through his chest.

* * *

"Arthur? Where am I?"

"Oh thank whatever gods there are, you're awake!" Said Arthur. "Please don't do that again, I'm too young to have a heart attack."

"Oh, it's the PC. Senses are a bit low on power. Is everyone alive?"

"Chaud says ProtoMan is fine. But Flare..."

"What about Flare!?"

"She's run off. We're trying to track her, but... she's going so fast and in such unpredictable patterns we just can't. She's only landed twice, once to buy a FullEnergy and once to shoot at a wall for no apparent reason. She thinks it's her fault."

"...But... I chose to do that! I took that sword so she could have a chance to get redeemed with the officials! Not to hurt her!"

"She doesn't know that. And worse, her power keeps spiking. She might lose herself completely at any moment."

"We have to get to her." Treble stepped out of the repair program, stumbling.

"You're not fully healed!"

"Don't care. We're saving Flare. Send some mail round, get everyone's help."

"Treble, it's three in the morning. You were out for fourteen hours."

"...Maybe you should sleep, then. I'll finish healing." admitted Treble. "Oh, and... sorry for the scare."

"...Thanks." Said Arthur genuinely. "I've been doing some planning and strategy, but I'll fill you in in the morning."

* * *

"Okay, first things first: take these."

A small pile of BugFrags fell to the floor in front of Treble. "Where did you get these?!"

"Denny. He'd collected a bunch while doing his patrols in the Undernet. Alright, so next I have all three of our friends ready to meet at the square as soon as I give the word. I couldn't get Ember, but SteamMan apparently got deployed to find Flare already and he's more than happy to help. But that's not all."

"Who else is there to call on? Zero maybe?"

"Dad took his navi to where the fight happened and waited for Gregar to show up. We've explained everything to him, and given how bad it would be if Flare totally lost control... we've arranged to meet his NetOp. Meanwhile, we also got a message from Scilabs to come by at earliest convenience. ProtoMan sent a thank-you message as well. 'For your recent efforts, both against WuHighMax and to protect me... Master Chaud wishes for you to have this. According to Yuichiro, you don't need to worry about it using your BugFrags, but it will cost some health to use.' They sent us a giga chip called BugRiseSword. Normally it gives you an unlimited LifeSword, but it costs BugFrags to swing. Apparently for you, and by extension Gregar, it'll damage you for 20 health every swing instead. No permanent damage though."

"Woah... do we use that or BugCharge?"

"Well, I'd say Origin is mostly better. But this will help a ton against navis like Ember who are too fast to hit with BugCharge or Origin."

"Alright. So what do you do first? I think we should just go get Gregar, and go straight to Flare."

"I'll one-up you. Let's send our friends to back up SteamMan, they can make some progress while we get Gregar. And one last thing..."

"Yeah?"

"MegaMan's stopped his search for Crescendo to come help."

"...I hope he knows not to delete Flare."

* * *

Arthur stepped out of the subway. "So Gregar's NetOp just told me to meet him at this town's chip shop."

"I wonder what he'll be like? I bet he's got to be this really tough guy, to make Gregar respect him. Like, some kind of veteran."

"I... doubt that, to be honest. Most really good NetOps are somewhere between thirteen and twenty, since the net only really got super big 'recently'. And whoever it is can clearly operate at least two navis at once. Maybe three."

"Well, GPS says the shop is on your left."

"Ok. Now let's hope I didn't just walk into a trap." Arthur pushed the door open. "Hello?"

"Hey there." Responded a boy's voice. "It's okay. I know you haven't sold me out."

"Ethan? Nice to meet you at last." Ethan was a similar height to Arthur, with short, gelled black hair. He had a denim jacket that seemed to have a bit of a scrape on one elbow, a shirt that was a clean white, and... was that a soldering iron in his pocket? Actually, his pocket was bulging with about a dozen odd bumps.

"So you're Arthur. We don't have any time to waste- or time at all really, so let's get online!"

"Roger. Mind if I ask a few questions while we go?"

"What are you, a reporter?" Quipped Ethan "Sure. Just nothing that'll put us in danger."

"Well... I'd kind of like to know how you met Gregar and Flare."

Ethan gestured to a poster of a Navi holding up a battlechip. "...You can jack into this poster. See the battlechip? The attack's picture has been cut out to reveal the port." Ethan slipped Alias' PET into his hand. "Alias! Time to ride."

"Treble, hunt."

"I found both of the beasts injured and about to collapse, and wandering the net. Or, Alias found them. We brought them back to my PC, and saved them from their damages."

"...Hm. Not quite the same as me. Although I think I used more than my fair share of luck getting Treble. By the way... sorry about Flare. Maybe there was something I could have done, but I just couldn't see it."

"Look, Treble broke his promise to keep Flare safe, but at least you two are trying to fix it. But don't count on any favours from Gregar any time soon."

* * *

"Alias! Any idea where Flare might have gone?" Said Treble.

"No. She normally stayed in the PC. But Gregar thinks he can sense evil spirits in one of the corners of the Undernet, so we'd better get over there."

"Evil spirits?"

"He explained it like this: 'Cybeast power can change its surroundings greatly, but it reacts to the bearer. If the user is overwhelmed with negative emotions then the power will involuntarily generate evil spirits.' The evil spirits are just... weaponised negativity. Viruses but less stable. Chip'll post a link for us any second now, so get ready."

"Alright. Wait, who's operating Gregar?"

"SheepMan. He's actually a good NetOp."

A white panel appeared, and Alias stepped on. Treble followed, coming out in a square. "This isn't the Undernet?"

"It's as close as Chip can go. He needs a connection to the physical computer to open a link, and the Undernet computers are hidden. Just follow me." Alias went forwards.

* * *

PlugMan watched the yellow flames burn out as the evil spirit fell. "Damn, I was hoping... hoping so much..."

"We knew the chances of finding DarkPower were slim." Said Denny. "How long do you have left?"

"Four days. Less if I lose a fight."

"Well, I guess we press on. Our other group members have been given the order to group up, so that means we're going into stage two of Arthur's plan, including one of Gregar's lot. They'll be here in two minutes."

"...Strangely resourceful. Who?" Asked PlugMan.

"Apparently they're called Midnight. Well, I guess you can teach them a few things about darkness."

"I guess. I'd... rather spend these last days doing something useful though."

"...You're right. Look, I don't tell the truth often... but it's been a good time, having you."

"Same. Now, we've got a job to do."

* * *

"MathMan, I'm on route." Said Alias, into a phone program. "We've got our teams in place, and we're ready to group up."

"Good. Me and Gregar are closing in, but we're trying not to cause a disturbance, which makes it hard to fight at our fullest. Groups B and C are moving to complete the ring."

Treble was eavesdropping. "B and C? Wait, who's in these groups?"

Arthur took over to explain. "We've split our joint forces into three... technically four groups. They'll encircle Flare, to make sure nothing else reaches her first. You're group A, the group that has the best chance of getting Flare back to her senses: Alias, Gregar, MathMan and You. You're going in first."

"Come on, we can't be slow." Insisted Alias. Treble set off after him.

"Group B is PlugMan, Ember, SteamMan and one of Ethan's friends. They're covering the exit that would lead Flare out of the Undernet, since PlugMan can convince the Undernet dwellers not to bother them and SteamMan's a licensed official then nobody will bother them. Group C has Zero, CommandoMan, and another one of Ethan's friends, Sergeant. Oh, and Zoano. They're keeping the rest of the undernet away. The fourth group is just MegaMan and ProtoMan. If anything happens that needs backup fighters, we can send one of them and that should get it under control."

"Well, I only need to worry about my group! Let's keep going, and quick!"

* * *

Ember hacked her way through an evil spirit at mach speed, blades shining. "We mustn't let them reach the main net."

SteamMan punched one with enough force to make it explode. "And by my honour, we won't! PlugMan! How are things at your area?"

"Under control. My elec strikes are devastating in choke points. Midnight, status?"

"Doing well. Big wave heading for SteamMan though!"

"Roger!"

* * *

A smart bomb detonated next to an undernet navi. "I warned you to stay back." Said CommandoMan.

Another Underdweller shouted. "YA CAN'T KEEP US AWAY FROM THAT POWER, YA YELLOWBELLY!"

A sword neatly cut him in half. "...Such a waste of data." Remarked Zero.

"Sir! Our fortifications are in place." Called a lightly armored navi.

"Good. Alright men, don't let a single one past." Ordered CommandoMan.

'Meep!'

* * *

Bass struggled to his feet. "Crescendo. To me."

"Bass?! You shouldn't move, you have to focus-"

"She's losing control, and that means her grip on me is failing. We need to move. I have to absorb Gregar or give her back her power. I do not wish to fight against myself forever."

"I'm ready to help you, Bass! With the power I've been given- I'm sure I can help you."

"Yes. In fact... I would consider your training successful." Bass floated to his rack of cloaks, and picked one up. He held it and his hand burned with power, the cloak altering subtly. "Take this. I've imbued it with my power to open portals. While I engage directly, you'll flank. If I fail, truly possible with this blasted system, then you need to make sure that I have a few seconds to escape."

"I won't fail you, Bass. I owe you too much to fail."

* * *

"Gregar!" Called Treble.

"...You." Gregar was still for a moment. "If it weren't for the fact we're in such a dangerous situation I'd rip your heart out. Trust me, I know exactly how to. You really dared to break a promise like that?"

"Hey. The alternative was making it totally impossible for you guys to ever stop being enemies with the officials, or actually siding against her. I did my best." Said Treble defensively.

"Get Flare back and I'll consider sparing your life." Said Gregar.

"Let's just focus on the task at hand for now." Said MathMan.

"Flare is still in danger! And arguing won't change that." Added Alias.

"You're right. Everyone... let's go."

 **Author's notes: And this is what I would consider a sub-optimal first date. Or a catastrophe that needs a bunch of people to effectively contain. Oh, and a quick shout to _JaneValentine007_ : I'm sorry for Ember's background-y role these last two fights, but I promise that's not going to last any longer. Oh, and get well soon!**

 **RushAlias: Don't push yourself to 'catch up', you'll skip things then wish you hadn't later. Just push yourself to post an update, that's both easier and better in the long term.**

 **Guest: Massive teams are tough to really write (if you try to give everyone screentime things get slowww), but it looks like I managed it, whew. MegaMan and Lan were both devastated to lose Colonel, especially since I prefer Team Colonel as the canon BN5. Treble/Flare might still have a few bumps to get over before it really picks up meaning, but that's all part of the story. Considering their offspring basically just made me immediately and permanently go 'winged puppy oh my god oh my god'. Thanks for the motivation!**


	27. Chapter 27: Past to Future

"Is everybody prepared to face Flare?" Said MathMan. "We're not under any real time limit, so if you need to use subchips or alter your NaviCust, do it now."

"Both carvings are ready, so... I'm fine." Said Alias.

"Carvings?" Said Treble.

"Um... just imagine crosses without a cross system, to put it simply. You'll see in a second." Said Alias.

"It's a perfect replication of the cybeast power, but it drains the user _very_ fast. We made it by exposing Alias to cybeast power, letting it basically write an extra mode for him. Gregar knows the specifics." Said Ethan quickly.

"Well, I'm ready to face Flare. We'll get her back!" Said Treble.

"Ready. Let's go." Said Gregar. All four walked into the inner area.

* * *

Flare's head jerked up to see the four navis enter the room. "You shouldn't have come here." Her voice was distorted a little, Falzar's harsher tone only half filling the words.

"Flare... I took that sword so you could have a future! Not to hurt you!" Shouted Treble.

"It's meaningless." Said Falzar. "As soon as I can, I'll tear you limb from limb. My regeneration is almost complete!"

"Falzar!" Gregar backhanded an evil spirit that strayed too close and it disappeared, letting him walk straight forwards. "You have to fight the system! Just like when we were young!"

"I am the system." Said Falzar. "And the system is me."

"..." MathMan carefully observed the area around the others, watching for a surprise attack.

Alias stepped up. "Flare. Please come back-" A feather was cut out of the air just before it could hit Alias, MathMan's sword flashing.

"...It's no use." Said MathMan. "Your words haven't altered her readouts at all."

"Then I'll bring you back the hard way!" Said Gregar.

"Locked on." Said Falzar.

Arthur knew to open combat in a way that would cover weaknesses. "ElementBreath, BugCharge, VariableSword in. Program Advance, Origin." He furiously mashed in the code to make the transformation last.

"Alias! Battle routine set!"

"Executing! Activating F-Carving!" Said Alias. There was a shine, and his armor took on a match to Falzar's, the only difference being the head- the beak opened wide to display Alias's eyes.

"Let's end this before it begins! DoublePoint, SuperVulcan, WhiteCapsule!" Said Ethan.

Falzar's aura wrapped around her pre-emptively, throwing a wrench into the vulcan plan. Falzar shot up into the air, throwing a burst of sharp feathers at Gregar, but Treble transformed and they bounced off his back harmlessly.

"NorthWind in!" Said Arthur. "And... UnifyCode, BugAura!"

Treble gave a loud roar, and Falzar's aura was forced back inside her. Gregar stepped forwards, his own aura activating as Treble turned on the BugAura. Gregar summoned a VacuumFan, and crouched as Flare started losing altitude. She tried to hit the fan from afar with her buster, but Treble just moved in front of it. Once in range, Gregar used an AreaSteal to warp in close, and sparked for a second before tackling her while cloaked in electricity. Alias let the SuperVulcan rip, and it ate into Falzar's health quickly. But she wasn't willing to just accept she was outnumbered. With great speed and precision, Falzar struck at Gregar twice, first parrying BOTH of Gregar's claws and second knocking him back, before leaping into the sky and throwing a pair of wing boomerangs at Alias. Treble was able to intercept them, but that left the VacuumFan exposed.

Ethan took out a few chips. "FastGauge, clear out that DoublePoint! And Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade! LifeSword!"

Alias's golden sheen disappeared, restoring his freedom of movement and letting him fly in close. Falzar charged him, to Alias' surprise, and just as he was ready to swing the LifeSword, she let a hurricane of air loose at him. Treble took the blow again, a living shield. But the BugAura was blown off, regardless of Treble's armored nature. Alias leapt out from under Treble, and just managed to hit Falzar as she was lifting off. Gregar came from behind, and blew fire over Falzar. She broke free, and rose higher.

"Junk reborn." She muttered, and a lot of the panels around everyone cracked, swirling around at terminal velocity. Some of the destroyed panels made shapes like giant fists or blades, but they were simply swirls of debris.

Treble dashed this way and that, but couldn't intercept many panels. Gregar's aura took the worst of the attack, negating a lot of damage, and Alias got slammed a few times, his copy of Flare's armor starting to drain him. MathMan cut each one out of the air, walking forwards. "Fanfare."

Alias was relieved as the next few panels that ought to have hit him just broke harmlessly against his armor. "Recalling LifeSword! Ethan, let's use the Ciel system to end this now!"

"Right! Take WideSword and LongSword!" Said Ethan.

Falzar tried to knock Alias out of the air, clearly the more experienced flier, but MathMan carefully held out his black orb and harried her with a stream of numbers, giving Alias the second he needed.

"SP Durandal!" Alias flew forward, holding out a LifeSword that burned with white fire. It seemed Falzar had no choice but to get hit... until with one powerful gust of air, she sent Alias off-course, straight into Gregar. They crashed into each other, and away from the safety Treble provided Wing Boomerangs slammed them both for heavy damage. But Falzar had made a mistake- she'd turned her back on a foe that just needed a chance. Treble swiped with all his weight, and even though Falzar's wings put out a lot of lift, they couldn't do anything to stop Falzar getting slammed into the ground, under GS-Treble's full weight.

"IT'S OVER. COME ON, FLARE! YOU CAN BEAT THIS SYSTEM!"

"Delete me, then." Taunted Falzar. "I'll be back."

Gregar got up, brushing off the damage. In four versus one, it had been much easier to beat Falzar. But something still felt dangerous... "She's in there. We're powerful, but we're not limitless. She can beat the system while she's physically tired like this."

There was a rumble and a sound like metal grinding. Treble, Gregar and Alias spun to see MathMan with his sword smoking, Bass in front of him.

"You deflected an entire Hell'sRolling?" Said Bass. "...Perhaps I shall actually try."

"Get out, Bass. We'll beat you easily right now." Said Gregar.

"Fool. Do you not understand how abilities influence a fight?!" Bass kicked into the air, casting Buster Rake in one fluid motion. It suddenly became clear Bass was much better at taking on large numbers than Falzar. His abilities hit wide areas, damaging everyone at once, compared to the strong single-target attacks Falzar had used. Treble threw himself in front of the prone Falzar, and Alias and MathMan got blasted, while Gregar's aura again protected him.

"I beat you once! I'll do it again!" Shouted Gregar, jumping forwards. He jabbed his claws at Bass and actually landed a hit, but Bass wasn't stopped from using his Darkness Blade, Gregar's aura finally unable to take any more punishment. Gregar jumped back, his buster blazing, and Bass leapt after him, forming an EarthBreaker and slamming Gregar out of the air mercilessly. Gregar was sent rolling across the floor, but Bass had to pull back or get slashed by MathMan. He tried shooting a TankCannon at Gregar to make sure he went down, but like a large grey guardian angel Treble was in the way.

MathMan was actually doing a surprisingly good job of dueling Bass, thanks to his Silence inflicting blindness. Bass had much more power behind his blows, but just couldn't land the hits he needed while MathMan made solid strikes. FolderBack activated, doubling up the summons, but just before Poltergeist could initiate the netbattle equivalent of a trash compactor, Bass floated up, busters alight. Everything was wiped out, MathMan nearly deleted. Bass swooped down and thrust the Darkness Blade forwards, and MathMan's sword shattered.

"Get ability." Bass grabbed MathMan, only to be tackled by GS-Treble.

"WILL YOU EVER LEARN THAT LEAVES YOU OPEN IN COMBAT?" Treble said, slamming Bass against the wall to underwhelming effect. Bass wasn't even fazed, throwing another EarthBreaker orb. It exploded against Treble's face, unfortunately ignoring his armor for full damage.

"Dammit, we'd better beat him quick!" Said Arthur. "Thunder, CornShot2, AuraHead1. Convert weapons!"

Ethan frowned. "He really caught us at a bad time... we need to use our trump card, but Flare..."

Treble blasted electricity over Bass, scoring a hit despite the effort Bass put into dodging. He quickly made a titanic cleave with his claws, Bass seeming to shrug off the damage and try using his Buster Rake. Most shots bounced off, a few hitting Treble's face for reduced damage. But the power was great enough that Treble's health was starting to get low.

Alias struggled over to Falzar, having taken the worst of a Buster Rake. "Flare."

"I hear you. But I don't listen" Said Falzar, unable to move.

"I know. But you can be reasoned with. System, if you don't give Flare control, at least for a few minutes... there's no way you'll survive. Gregar will, you won't. So... I'm asking you to just give up control, for now."

"...Why... I- I don't want to! I MUST destroy him! I must!" Said Falzar.

"You can't if you're deleted. To get your chance... you'll have to give in for now."

Falzar gasped, her voice changing back. "Q...quick. Get Gregar over! Treble... is... in danger!"

Treble's drill attack missed, and Bass drove a Hell'sRolling into his mouth. "ARTHUR, I CAN'T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!" He growled, intercepting another attack meant for the navis behind him.

"We need something more..." Said Arthur. "Anything to slow down Bass..."

Ethan leaned over. "Well activate his passive ability then!"

"Huh?" Said Arthur.

"It's not turned on for some reason. No idea why. Go into the setup menu. They come turned off by default, no idea why you wouldn't turn it on..."

Arthur rushed into the menu, as Treble endured another Buster Rake. "Junk Flyer? When did we get thi- At 750 max health, ok. Huh. Could have used a notification... Treble, take this!"

"JUNK FLYER GO!" Debris suddenly started appearing around Treble, floating forwards. It would have been a nice ranged defence if it had come in before the fight was effectively over. Bass dashed forwards, and flung one last Hell'sRolling at Treble, knocking him to the floor.

"It's over." Said Bass. "You... have grown a little stronger."

There was a blinding flash.

"Wha- Oh no..." Said Bass, looking forwards.

Arthur could see a strange navi in the place of Gregar, Alias and Falzar, with armor that seemed to take elements from both beasts, but in an angelic white. One he vaguely remembered from an old security video... "Did they combine?"

"We've got this." Said Ethan. "Grezar, no mercy!"

'Grezar' spread a pair of pure white wings as a deep red aura blazed around it, and then shot forwards like a comet, hitting Bass with a normal punch that blew him into a wall with sufficient force to delete the wall. Bass tried to take out his sword, when Ethan put in a chip. "Cursor chip in, converting to LaserRay!"

"YAAH **!"** Shouted Grezar, pointing a finger forwards and shooting a thin beam of energy straight for Bass. Bass raised his LifeAura and the ray went straight through, uncaring. Bass was pinned under the intense beam of pure destruction as Ethan pulled out another chip.

"Break chip in, converting to ShatteringImpact!"

Grezar charged forwards and delivered the mother of all headbutts, the force generating enough of a shockwave to break the floor to gravel around the two, despite the fact it threw Bass upwards.

Ethan jumped his PET to his left hand, like it was burning hot. "Ow! Stability is falling, they're too tired..." Said Ethan. "If only I had some way to do more damage!"

Arthur lit up as a single, genius thought decided to happen, and he delved into his pack, for a chip at the very bottom he never used. "Take this, Ethan!"

Ethan's eyes widened. "Yes!" He slammed in the chip emphatically. "BusterUp! Perfect!"

Grezar raised their buster, and revealed just how insanely powerful a buster could be as Bass was exposed to something that strongly resembled a snowstorm coming from Grezar's arm.

Bass hit the floor, cloak gone. He held his side, and stood shakily. "N-now."

There was a bang as a FlashBomb went off, even if Grezar wasn't stunned inside the aura, the moment of surprise was all Bass needed to slip through a portal behind himself.

Treble picked himself up. "TRILL!"

"It's Crescendo." Crescendo followed Bass into a portal of his own making, before anyone had time to react.

"...Hahhhghghhh..." Grezar glowed with bright energy for a few seconds, and then three navis were left behind. Alias and Flare collapsed immediately. Gregar slouched, but stayed standing.

"...He got away." Said Gregar. "Flare... are you?"

She didn't respond. Ethan filled in semi-awkwardly. "She only looks to be unconscious. She'll probably wake up soon. I'll log her out..." he started digging through his pockets, taking out tools and putting them on a table. A soldering iron, then some solder, then wires, then a tiny screwdriver and _then_ a large wrench that jarringly contrasted the other items, and finally a pink-red PET.

"What's the wrench for?" Said Arthur.

"Uh... my skateboard." Said Ethan carefully.

Then a voice called from the monitor. "Everyone, freeze!"

Ethan instantly went pale. "Not now!"

Ember dashed into view, her visor rolling up. "Are you three going to come quietly?"

Treble looked over, still not having changed back, just lying on the floor. "EMBER?"

"The evil spirits stopped coming, so I dashed over to help." Explained Ember. "The others are on the way, but I can jump gaps. Now, Gregar. Surrender peacefully."

Gregar stepped forwards. "In your dreams."

Ethan gritted his teeth. "Gregar, be careful! Those last fights will have left you drained."

"I'll never abandon Flare. Never." Said Gregar.

"Didn't mean it that way, she's special to me too. Play it defensive. Use Muramasa to beat her." Said Ethan.

Arthur stepped back nervously. "Treble, can we stop them fighting?"

"NO CHANCE."

Gregar started firing his buster at Ember, as she dashed forwards. While Ember took a few hits, once she leapt into the air she started a deadly offensive, tossing down an AirHockey, and then landing to make a dashing cut. Gregar took the first hit of the AirHockey in the face, his resistance to force saving him from the bounces. He tried halting Ember's slice with his claws, but tired as he was it slipped through. Ember turned nimbly behind him, and there was a 'ping'.

Ember had entered a new cross. Arthur could see a white line across her mask, a fin on top of her helmet, a reshaping of her chest armor... and all four of her blades were glowing like purple lightsabers. It could only have been one cross. ProtoCross. And then there was a '?' sound, indicating an anti-chip had been primed.

Gregar tried to attack, but it seemed ProtoCross had taken ProtoMan's best ability for Ember: teleporting very fast. Ember appeared behind Gregar and whipped a MoonBlade around, before then slicing with her empowered arm swords. Gregar swung his claws at her to give himself space, and then jumped back, firing an attack from his tail. The TailArrow found it's mark in Ember, and she flinched as it installed a HP bug.

"Take this!" Gregar seized the chance to leap forwards, pulling out Muramasa in a great arc, bringing it down on Ember's mask. There was a '!' sound when it touched, and suddenly Gregar was knocked several steps back as Ember slashed his stomach with huge force. AntiSword had suddenly sent the fight decidedly to Ember. While Gregar had been offering something of a fight before, now it was effectively over. And Gregar did something nobody expected. "...I give up. I'll come with you... just... don't hurt Flare."

Ember's mask rolled up. "Hey, two for two when it comes to fighting wolves made of bugs. Okay, sending to the jail server..." She touched Gregar, and he disappeared. "Wait, where's the other one?"

Flare was gone. Treble suddenly realised that too. "FLARE?!"

"She must have run while they were fighting..." Said Arthur. "Hey, Ethan... I shouldn't say this, but you better log Alias out. He'll get arrested too."

"Alias, jack out." Said Ethan hollowly. "Both Gregar and Flare... I couldn't save either of them..."

"I'll make sure Gregar's treated well. Perks of being in the official good books. Maybe I can even clear his name if he calms down." Said Arthur.

"You're too optimistic. The officials really don't like us." Said Ethan.

"Well, I'll do my best. Treble, have a word with Ember now. We'll get down to Scilabs after."

Treble dropped back to normal and limped over to Ember. "Hey, uh, Ember?"

"Treble! Good job. Not sure what went down, but getting Gregar back into custody is a big win." Said Ember. "Actually... what DID go down here? This place is wrecked!"

"Umm... Flare, then Bass. Anyway, can... can we treat Gregar nicely this time? Like, at least not threaten him with deletion." Said Treble hopefully.

"We're not officials, but we can try, if it means that much to you." Said Ember.

"I'll get down to Scilabs now. Maybe you could meet us there?" Said Treble.

"Sure, it's ten minutes by LevBus. You should hurry down."

Arthyr raised his PET "Treble, back." Treble logged out.

Ethan stared at the wall, like he was suppressing the urge to punch it in frustration. "Some days I swear things refuse to go right. Do what you can, Arthur. Maybe I'll start believing you do want to get us amnesty."

"I'll do everything in my power. See you round, Ethan. Try and find Flare, since I'll be wrapped up with Gregar." Said Arthur, walking out of the door.

* * *

The glass doors to Scilabs slid open after a half-hour train ride and a five minute walk. Arthur stepped inside with a sense of determination, making a beeline for the welcome desk.

The accountant looked up. "We've been expecting you. Red door."

Arthur went in quickly, almost bumping straight into Blaze. "Ah! Sorry there-"

"Hiya Arthur! It's been a while, right?" Said Blaze. "Come in! We've got Gregar locked up,"

Arthur followed Blaze in, to see a large box on a table, with a few different people around it.

"It's lead-lined, and there's a PET in there. As long as we don't unseal it near a jack-in port, Gregar's stuck in there." Said Blaze.

"Is he alright?" Said Arthur. "I owe it to Flare to keep her brother alive, at least."

Blaze looked down. "He's... well, he's barely conscious. But we can't send someone in to tell him we're just going to hold him here until we know what to do with him, since he'd either attack or escape."

"Actually, I've got an update on that!" Said a new voice. Both Arthur and Blaze turned.

"Lan?" Said Arthur.

"Oh no, I just look like him. My name is Hub!" Said the boy, dressed in clothes that strongly resembled Lan's. Now that Arthur looked closely, his hair was neater than Lan's. "We're setting up an extremely secure computer to hold him in. It'll be ready in half an hour, so until then, why don't you come with me, Arthur? We've got a theory we've been meaning to test for a while."

"Um, sure!" Said Arthur, following Hub. He decided to make some conversation. "So... do you work here?"

"Yep. I've got a lot of great memories of this place, I really wouldn't want to work anywhere else." Said Hub. "But I'm still just doing work experience here fight now."

"You must be pretty good to get allowed into the red door though." Said Arthur. "Hey, maybe we could netbattle later? I have some things to tend to first, though."

"Ahaha... I'm sure we will. We're here." Said Hub, opening the door to one of the labs.

Yuichiro looked up. "Arthur, just who I wanted to see!"

"Good to see you, Yuichiro." Said Arthur. "What's this theory you mentioned?"

"I've been developing a special addon for a program to increase it's capability. You're familiar with SP chip making, right?"

"Uh... just about?"

"Then you might have heard of it's cousin, the giga maker?"

"Nope. Could you explain?" Said Arthur.

"Well, a few navis have extremely powerful special attacks that would be suitable as Giga chips. The giga maker can do just that. With my new upgrade, it should not only be faster, but it should work for navis made of bugs. So, would you help me test it?"

"Of course!"

"Great. Only a few navis are even eligible to use this machine." Said Yuichiro with a smile.

"...Like who? I bet MegaMan could. What chip did he make?" Arthur held out his PET.

Yuichiro took it and fiddled for a second before placing it into the machine. "HubBatch. It's not as strong as the real HubBatch program, but it's still a very powerful chip."

"What does it do? And... Hub, any relation to you? It seems like a crazy coincidence."

"N-no." Said Hub.

"It gives you the effects of BodyPack, BusterPack, and Reflect." Explained Yuichiro. "All are large NaviCust parts, so getting them free can be a real boon. And it lets you use more interesting and specific parts. GigaFolder works really well with it."

"Wow, useful. Any chance I could get that?"

"Not really. These chips normally need a hefty commission fee, and I'm only doing this first one for free. That aside, it's the absolutely signature, defining technique your navi has as well, at max power. People only give them as a sign of absolute trust."

"Ah. Well... tell me who else has a giga chip."

"ProtoMan has DeltaRayEdge. There used to be someone called Colonel, if you know him from Gregar. He had two, amazingly. CrossDivide and ColonelForce."

There was a 'ding'. "Oh? Is it done?" Said Arthur.

Yuichiro handed back the PET. "No. It'll be about a day. I'll mail it to you once it's finished! Wow, five times faster..."

Treble rubbed his nose. "I feel... weird. Not like I'm damaged, just... icky. And it smells awful in there."

Yuichiro shrugged. "I'll have to work on that, I suppose. Now then, I know a bit about why you came here right now... Gregar, right?"

"...Yeah. I want to try and make things good between the beasts and the officials, but... both sides hate each other."

"Don't give up. It's quite noble of you to do something like this." Offered Yuichiro. "Gregar will be given a trial of sorts in an official meeting before proceeding to either an actual trial at court, or if the officials are convinced not to charge him then he'll go to whatever they choose, paperwork permitting."

"...I've always been decent at playing devil's advocate, even if I don't like to argue." Said Arthur. "Any chance I'll be allowed to swing in?"

Before Yuichiro could answer, there was a knock as Chaud entered. "I've been looking for you, Arthur."

"Wow, I feel popular. What can I do for you?" Said Arthur.

"...Are you discussing Gregar?"

"Yes." Said Arthur.

"Good. We're going to hold a meeting over what we do with him, best described as a trial of sorts. We care about giving everyone a fair trial, but Gregar doesn't have any real defenders here. I was wondering if you would feel confident putting together a case for him?"

"I'll do my best, as always."

"Excellent." Chaud sighed. "It's tough to be an official sometimes. We can't just do as we please, even if we think it's for the best. But those rules that hold us back stop us getting corrupted. If you need any records, speak to Cossak on the first floor. He helps us handle internal affairs. You can also confer with Gregar if you want to, but we'll have to find a way to ensure he can't escape first, so you may have to wait a few hours. Any questions?"

"Uh, what should I put into this case? And is there anywhere I can work?" Said Arthur.

Hub held up a hand. "The guest workstations are down the corridor. I'll guide you."

Chaud shrugged. "Any kind of evidence, record, analysis or even opinion that you believe will prove Gregar's innocence. In case you're wondering, we're charging him with mass deletions from his initial appearance, serious property damage for his resurrection in Cyber City, and then a further few charges of assaulting officials and property damage from his current life."

"That's... quite a lot."

Chaud shrugged. "If you don't want to defend him, I'll find someone else. We really do care about giving fair trials, despite the fact they're not even held at a real court."

"No. I can do this." Said Arthur. "How long do I have?"

"You get a minimum of five hours to put together a basic portfolio, and then up to another seven to flesh out your points. If you need special evidence from crimescenes you can be given up to two days extra time. Not as much as a real court, but our equivalent of a death sentence is handing them over to Green Town court with all the evidence we have, so... don't worry too much if you fail."

"I'll get to work." Said Arthur. "Hub, guide me."

* * *

Eight hour later, Arthur sat up, and groaned. A large text document was before him. "I'm making headway."

Treble looked at the file worriedly. "We could definitely use Alpha's initial attack to defend his first actions, but the records got wiped since they're so old..."

"Yeah, but at least the possibility alone gives us something big to work with. And MegaMan managed to keep him from injuring anyone with the Cyber city stuff, and we've managed to write off the expo disaster to Wily thanks to his testimony, who was already pardoned. The recent stuff is the real tough crap."

"At least he didn't manage to delete anyone."

"There were two deletions in that fight at BusinessArea, when some debris went loose. Plus he's being charged with the actions of those beast viruses, it turns out, and they've really made a mess."

"Oh, what!? The viruses were acting on thier own." Said Treble.

"I didn't even know there was a water one. But yep, they racked up hundreds of thousands in damages. If only there was some way to prove they were acting of their own accord..."

"Maybe we could run an experiment. Prove his power can't control someone's mind at low concentrations."

"...Maybe. But honestly, we NEED to prove Alpha started the fight to have any chance here." There was a knock. "Come in." Called Arthur.

Blaze stepped into the room, a spring in her step. "Blaze Kazuhaya, here to save the day!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"I heard about your trial from Wily. How you need records of Alpha attacking Gregar to prove that it's not all his fault." Said Blaze with a smile.

"Yeah, but the records got lost a long time ago..."

"I had a few words with one of my... associates." Said Blaze with a grin. "And let's just say, that justice is on an express delivery to you!"

"Blaze, please." Said Ember. "Just give the poor guy the file."

Ember passed Arthur a memory stick. "Denny really knew what he was doing when he told us to be friends!"

"...Yeah. If this is the evidence that could prove Gregar isn't the original culprit..." Said Arthur in a whisper. "Well." He plugged it into the computer gently, like it was pure gold. Only one file was inside. "Where did you find it?"

"Um... trade secret! Just... I have got a favor to ask!"

"Huh?"

"If you ever think you know where I got it, don't say anything. It would be... really bad if Gregar found out where I got it." Said Blaze. "Anyway, ta-ta for now! I need to go and catch Denny before he goes off on one of his 'secret missions'." Blaze skipped out of the room.

Arthur clicked 'play' on the video, labeled 'BetaMem20XX-10'. A video started scrolling. The picture was crystal-clear, with a small watermark in the top identifying it as Alpha's automated recording and reasoning. A reticle zoomed over to a green spot in the distance, and displayed a few numbers rapidly, before a few words appeared in red. 'Critical imperfection detected. Moving to eliminate.' The system zoomed over, and the green dot became visible as Gregar, in all his original glory. But there was something different about him. The massive wolf didn't carry himself with aggression. He looked curious, full of wonder at the things around him, despite the ground trembling at his touch. And then an energy projectile hit him in the side without warning. All too soon, the calm video was a raging fight, but that didn't matter. Arthur had concrete proof. Gregar hadn't fired the opening shot.

"Treble... this is it. Save a copy of this video immediately. It's our one chance." Said Arthur.

"Got it. You really think it'll be enough?"

"It absolutely blows the prosecution to bits. To less than nothing. We can win this trial. I'm sure of it. And... I think I owe Blaze that SP chip of you."

* * *

Arthur walked into a room with a round meeting table. A computer in the centre held Gregar, and the widows were firmly shut. Gregar saw Arthur and held a hand to his head. "You're my defence? I'd have a better chance fighting my way out." He said.

"Gregar, listen carefully. I found a video of when you were first attacked."

"WHAT?!"

"It clears your name, and pretty much everything you've ever done. But it might still fail if you insist on making a scene once the trial starts, so I'm asking you to just... play nice, alright?"

"...Are you serious? This one little video can just wipe out everything I've done?"

"Yes. And even if it can't, I put together every drop of evidence I could find to clear your name. Once you're cleared with the officials, you won't need to be their enemy any more. I didn't expect I'd be glad you got captured... but it's really going to help us both, by the looks of things."

"What about Flare?" Said Gregar. "Does it clear out everything that happened to her, too?"

"...I don't think so. But I might be able to defend her anyway, too."

"Alright. I'll play along." Said Gregar.

"Thanks. Now we just need to wait for the meeting."

* * *

The room started to fill up. First Chaud, then Yuichiro, Wily, Famous, Lan, Burn, Blaze, and a few others Arthur didn't recognise.

"Alright, I think this is everyone here who has a history with Gregar." Said Chaud. "First things first. As a neutral party, I'm assigning doctor Regal the role of head judge. In the event of stalemate when we put Gregar's fate to vote, he will have the deciding vote. It is also up to him to maintain order in the trial, and prompt parties for evidence."

"Understood, master Chaud." Said a scientist with slicked back hair. "As head judge, I'll list the accusations. Mass deletion. More than five charges of serious property damage. And more than five charges of assaulting officials."

Treble whispered. "No specific numbers?"

"Once you go over five it's the most serious punishment possible for whatever you did." responded Arthur quietly.

"Would the prosecution present their evidence?" Said Regal.

Chaud took out a paper file. For a moment, Arthur wondered why he wouldn't use a screen like a normal person, then remembered Gregar couldn't be kept in the same room as technology. "I have multiple witness reports and a selection of video evidence and photos of each scene. However, it is widespread knowledge Gregar did all this."

"Would the defence please present any evidence they have?"

Arthur realised his heart was beating like a jackhammer, but he kept his face under control. He had friends in this room. Blaze. Burn. Chaud. Lan. And the ones who weren't his friends- yet... were people that were trying their hardest to uphold justice. "I have video evidence proving the accused is innocent. Aside from that, I have some statements and records that make it clear several of the accused's actions were taken in self-defense, and further conjecture that suggests several incidents were not incurred on purpose." The words came out crystal clear, even as Arthur was terrified he'd stutter.

There were a few shocked murmurs. Regal held up a hand for silence. "Please present this video."

"Alright, but you'll need some context. This is a memory file from a program called Alpha. I don't know a lot about it but I understand it was an official project that failed. It shows things as Alpha would have seen them." Said Arthur. "Treble, can you send it around the room?"

Everyone's PETs dinged with mail. They all opened the video, and watched it. There was silence. Silence as heavy as a sunken ship.

Regal looked up. "Can doctor Cossak please perform a legitimacy test immediately?"

"Yes, sir." Said a scientist outside Arthur's view.

"Does the defence have anything else to add?"

"Almost all Gregar's actions count as self-defense once you take this into account. The only thing the prosecution could possibly attack him with now are the beast viruses that appeared recently, but I believe that his power didn't affect the virus' decision-making at all after observing how the viruses fought from the videos, and it's quite clear from his actions he didn't want them around." Said Arthur confidently.

Chaud sighed. "Do you have any idea how much trouble could have been saved if officials had this video ten years ago, when we found Alpha was faulty? ...Never mind. If the legitimacy test passes, I'll withdraw all charges. There's no way we can rightfully convict him if it is."

"It was... that easy?" Said Gregar. "You'd all have left me alone if we'd done this trial thing?"

Chaud shook his head. "We'd still have probably struggled knowing what to do with you. People attack when they're scared, after all. And I don't know where Arthur found a memory from Alpha, but without that your case would have been indefensible."

Cossak came back into the room. "To the best of our equipment, it's fully legitimate."

Chaud nodded. "The prosecution wishes to withdraw."

"Are there any objections?" Said Regal. "Very well. In that case, what should we do? Aside from seeking some form of forgiveness, there are currently warrants for the arrest of several of Gregar's allies, most importantly Falzar."

"Is everyone in this room familiar with the targeting system fiasco?" Said Chaud. "We can't withdraw Falzar's arrest warrant yet."

There was a general murmur of agreement.

"Gregar, do you have any statements regarding Alias and Falzar?" Said Regal.

"Alias helped me because he believed in me, and wanted me to get justice." Said Gregar, unusually poetic. "He truly believed I wasn't evil, and was willing to suffer with me for that. Flare... Falzar has never had full control of her actions, so you can't blame her for them. And she wanted to stand by me as well."

"First of all, all in favor of dropping the charges against Gregar, and releasing him under supervision after a probationary time?" Said Regal. There was a nearly perfect show of hands. "Does anyone have an objection?"

"Objection, Regal. Are you sure he won't cause more beast viruses to develop? Or evil spirits?" Said someone.

"...Lan? I understand MegaMan is the resident expert in cybeast power." Said Regal.

"It's not likely we'll see more beast viruses." Said MegaMan. "They only exist because he had his power taken out of his body against his will, which is a very rare scenario. I doubt it could happen again unless he wanted it to. Evil spirits are more likely, I even made one myself by accident, after I had a really bad day. But they're not too strong, and they stay deleted. Wait... do I have to give this power back, now?"

"Well, it's not ours, I guess..." Said Lan.

"No." Said Gregar.

"No?" Said Lan.

"I want to earn it back. I mean, I'm not really used to just getting things handed to me." Said Gregar. "I'll battle you and win it back, once I'm ready."

"Well, okay." Said MegaMan. "Careful you don't go breaking the law once you get out, ok? You're clear now, but anything else you do will be on you!"

Arthur nodded. "He's right. Try and stick with someone you trust until you learn the ropes of not doing illegal stuff."

"Order, please. We're off track." Said Regal. "By overwhelming vote, Gregar's charges are dropped, and we can pronounce him innocent. It helps the general public have hardly been affected, so we don't need to go through Green court. Next, all those who wish to drop Alias' charges please raise their hands."

There was a slightly weaker show of hands. "Any objections?"

"He knowingly aided a criminal, and there were times he could have acted to raise a concern with us."

"Illogical." Said Chaud, of all people. "We wouldn't have believed a word he said without that video."

Regal nodded. "Objection overruled. In that case, Alias is also free to go. Which only leaves Falzar, who we currently still need to capture for everyone's sake."

"What are you going to do if you capture her?" Said Gregar.

"We... don't know fully. Currently, it's likely we'll contain her and attempt to find a way to disable that system. But failing that, we will either permanently isolate her or use GigaFreeze." Said Regal. "We can drop the warrant to delete if she attacks, though."

"Do that. I'm not leaving her behind. Not ever. With this much help, we've got to be able to do something." Said Gregar, some new hope in his voice.

"All in favor?" Said Regal. Unanimous hands. "Then Falzar is no longer under a deletion sanction. This concludes the trial."

Blaze smiled. "Look at you, junior lawyer."

"Uhh... you basically enabled everything I did. Take this, before I forget." Said Arthur, handing her his last copy of Treble SP. "For now, what do we do with Gregar?"

"We'll let him roam the Scilab detention computer for two weeks to make sure he's not dangerous." Said Chaud. "We have to place anyone we try under supervision for a few days, anyway."

"Hey, not to be rude, but... is this all some elaborate ploy to get my address? And seriously? I still go to jail after getting proven innocent?" Said Gregar.

"Reasonable suspicion, but you can use the video too." Said Chaud. "It being real is what just got you freed. See how much easier things are when you don't struggle, or call in a massive attack on our place to get out? The detention computer is a far cry from jail. It's designed to hold navis who we bring in for minor repairs. Basically like a cheap motel."

"Show me. Then... I guess I'll go look round. Anyone mind taking me to a port? This PC is definitely not state of the art."

* * *

Gregar walked along the small corridor uncertainly, looking into the small side rooms. "...Is there a training program in here? Virus breeder? Music box? Anything?"

"No." Said Chaud. "Most navis only stay for a few hours."

"I'm going to get bored to deletion." Said Gregar.

"We'll monitor how you get along with your guards each day to make sure you're safe to release. Your first ones will arrive shortly." Said Chaud, leaving the room.

Gregar looked up quickly. "Treble! Do you hear me?"

"Yep!" Said Treble.

"I don't know how much I can trust these guys... And this will be my only chance to speak in private for a while, so I need a favor."

"Go on."

"Go tell Alias everything, and get him to give you the music box. Bring it back here so I can listen to something." Said Gregar.

"Oh yeah, I left my music box at yours! What did you think of my songs?"

"...why are they all about race cars? You can't drive? And you can't run Skata. Anyway... well, I don't trust them, but I'll... 'play nice'."

* * *

Arthur stepped outside. "So we just have to recover Flare. Everything's going well. All our efforts are finally paying off."

"Yeah, Flare. I need to get searching for her now. I can't bear leaving it in anyone else's hands!" Said Treble. "Come on! We're so close! Things got bad for a while, but we're suddenly so close to succeeding!"

"...Let's not lose our heads. We can celebrate when Flare's safe and sane."

 **Author's notes: And now for some people to put two and two together! And Blaze totally knows more than she's letting on right now.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 _ **JANEVALENTINE007:**_

**Guest:** **Right now, Flare is doing some suffering. If Flare got deleted, then Treble wouldn't actually have a broken psyche...** **because ProtoMan would have had to delete him first.**

 **It's weird to think about that child navi, since I have no plans to do children, but I'm definitely not opposed to thinking about that, and I'm NEVER against fanart. Treble basically got ripped in half by conflicted loyalty there.**


	28. Chapter 28: Split

"So, we should report back to Ethan before we go after Flare, now that she's not in immediate danger from the officials. I guess we can run Gregar's errand with the music box if we can't find any leads on her." Said Arthur, sitting down on a bench outside Scilabs.

"But... Eh, never mind. Errands are normally kind of boring, but for Flare's sake I can... Still, I want to go after her now! What if something bad happens?"

"Well, Alias would be the first to find out anyway." Reasoned Arthur. "If there's a port around here somewhere, you can probably track him down online."

"Ok! Let's go!"

Blaze stepped out of the doors. "Hold it!"

"Woah there?!" Said Arthur. "Hey Blaze."

"I was wondering if you wanted to have some rematches with people! I'm free for a bit, Gregar's ALREADY had his guard post a flyer challenging every person in the building to a fight, and my big bro should be around for a while!"

"If we have the time to, then sure. But we need to get a bunch of things done. Maybe you could give me a hand?"

"Sure thing! Whatcha need?" Bubbled Blaze.

"Well, if you could go take a quick look at the scans and get Flare's location, that would be good. Just mail it to me. Oh, and by the way... got any BugFrags? I just can't seem to find the time to gather any..." Said Arthur.

"Sure thing!" Blaze turned to leave, then stopped. "...Hm."

"Eh? Is something wrong?"

"Gregar seems a lot less... feral than I expected." Said Blaze. "I was there when MegaMan imprisoned him. He really was a raging beast then. But now he seems more reasonable, for some reason?"

Treble spoke up. "Wild guess here! Flare wasn't with him."

"...she wasn't. Falzar got absorbed by this creepy clown navi immediately. You think that set him off? We never really considered that, given the legend."

"You could go and ask" Said Arthur. "I mean, he's just in there."

"Good idea! I'll catch you online later, then!" Said Blaze. "Bye-bye!"

"Wait, is there anywhere to connect to the net here?"

"The computers inside, silly!" Said Blaze.

* * *

Treble was running across an unfamiliar area near Scilabs. "This would be way faster if I could just transform."

"We are not causing a panic unless there's a life on the line." Said Arthur.

"What about Gregar's bike?"

"You can't use it. You need a 'run' line."

"Aw. Wait a minute! I see some viruses over there! Can I just destroy them maybe? Blow off steam?"

Arthur sighed "I thought you were rushing to get everything ready to help Flare?"

"You're right! Nevermind the viruses! We have to get to Alias!" A panel glowed in front of Treble, and he skidded to a halt. "Hey? Is this one of Chip's links?"

Another navi stepped out, in matté white armor, angular around the torso, with crescents subtly forming the boots and gauntlets. Some purple accented the armor, and the helmet showed little but light purpled eyes, although some skin was visible next to them, hinting the helmet could be removed. Something about her design made Treble think of Ember. Probably the helmet, although it didn't seem to put the girl into 'no mercy' mode by being equipped. "Are you Treble? I'm here to get him to our table."

"Yep, that's me! Wait, who are you though?"

"Midnight, at your service. Follow me." She said, keeping her voice neutral yet friendly as she stepped back onto the panel.

Treble followed. He stepped out into a coffee shop. "Huh? Where is this?"

"It's just our local coffee shop." Said Alias, from behind him. "How are things going with Gregar over there? Did you stop them deleting him?"

"Better than that!" Said Treble. "We totally cleared his name."

Alias raised one hand. "Wait... what? How? There is no way you could have cleared like ten years worth of charges in maybe twelve hours. Or even at all! That's cybeast Gregar, how would the officials let go of their grudges so easily?"

"We just proved he wasn't the one to start the fight." Said Treble. "And suddenly, the entire prosecution was completely and utterly destroyed."

"Sweet! So where is he now?"

"They wanted to keep him under watch for two weeks to make sure it was safe to let him on the net. By the way, clearing him cleared you as well. And they can't delete Flare unless she attacks first!"

"Two weeks? ...I'm not sure Flare has two weeks. Zoano holding a little bit of her power is the only reason she hasn't hit 100%." Said Alias. "Any way we can get him out early?"

"...No idea." Admitted Treble. "I guess if things get bad I could ask them to let him out for a bit, but... you can't go breaking him out now. There's no way we could clear him a second time."

"Well, in that case, set up a link from Scilabs to this coffee parlor." Said SheepMan, holding a set of coffees and pointedly ignoring Treble. "We will need him. And when we do, we'll need him fast. Alias darling, your coffee?"

"Oh, thanks." Alias took the drink.

"Gregar wants you to send him his music box, by the way. He doesn't have anything to do in his holding area. He's challenged the entire building to a fight."

"It's Flare's music box, not his." Said SheepMan automatically. "...but she won't mind. Chip, please open a home link." A white panel glowed in front of SheepMan, and he warped out.

Treble looked to Alias. "So, what's Flare's situation?"

"Bad. She's totally lost control, but since there's no Gregar to target she's been shredding any viruses that come near her. She seems to be trying to get somewhere, but we're not sure where." Said Alias. "We don't know what'll happen if her power hits 100%, but it probably won't be good."

"Flare..." Said Treble worriedly. "Do you think it's possible to get her back? Because... I don't think I can delete her."

Alias nodded. "I'm sure we can. As long as we have even a scrap of hope, we'll never stop trying. Some of my other friends have been monitoring her, since they can get near safely."

"Huh? How?"

"Remember the carvings? We gave them to some other navis. The ones with an F-carving... Flare doesn't seem to detect them very well. G-carving is the opposite, though. Nearly lost someone."

"Ok... Well, I guess we need some kind of plan then." Said Treble. Then he looked at Alias curiously. "Oh yeah... how does that 'Grezar' form work? Can it help us?"

"Not really. Cybeast power is honestly like some kind of universally effective magic. Anyone could do that transformation in theory, but the data overload would absolutely destroy them. The only reason I can survive it is because the Ciel system gives me a VERY large memory for short periods. I guess you could also do it if you had like, an ExaMemory or something, but I've only heard rumors those exist."

"That's got to be so advanced. I wonder if I could substitute Gregar in that form?"

"The ciel system was made to let things be put together, it's just using cybeasts rather than chips to make Grezar. As for substituting Gregar... I don't think so. Your powers aren't the same. Just similar. I haven't seen you use that soul energy Gregar likes."

SheepMan came back out of the link, holding the music box. "...Alias, you're sure we can trust his word?"

"Yes. We noticed the officials pulled away from us, if you need proof beyond the fact that Treble is awful at lying."

"...Take it." Said SheepMan holding out the music box. "And make sure he stays out of trouble. I've lost enough friends to you."

"That..." _That hurt._ Treble looked away. "I'll get it delivered. Make sure Flare stays okay for me." He logged out.

* * *

Arthur walked into Gregar's room to see half a dozen staff members holding their PETs.

"Come on, we can beat him together!" Said one. "Go, Sword!"

There was an audible 'Wham' as a navi was thrown into something, followed by a growl and buster fire. Then Arthur noticed Hub standing across from the other staff members, holding a PET.

"Hey there Hub. Is he nearly done?"

Hub grinned. "Nearly! Operating's more fun than I expected!"

"You haven't operated before?"

There was another slamming sound. "Done!" Gregar shouted. "How long was that?"

Hub read some numbers off the screen. "You beat a navi every four seconds on average! Total time was twenty four and a half seconds. Just what I'd expect from you!"

"Gregar, can you hear me? We've got your music box." Said Arthur.

"Bring it in then!" Called Gregar.

"Treble, hunt." Arthur pointed his PET towards the computer.

Treble appeared holding the program. "This thing's sure gotten around, hasn't it?"

Gregar took it and fiddled for a moment, before taking a video file out of a small compartment on the bottom. Music started playing halfway through a track, lyrics clear enough, as the video showed Flare singing on a stage.

'-a journey all the way through time, step forwards then rewind!'

"Good memories." Said Gregar.

"Wow, Flare's singing is amazing!"

"She did enjoy learning that song. It was one of her favourites... Alias' too." There was quiet between the two for a while as the listened to Flare singing.

'Cause I've got my friends right by my side...'

Eventually, the track ran to its end. There was a small pause.

"Do you still have any of my music on there?" Asked Treble curiously.

"Flare wouldn't let us delete any of it..." Said Gregar quietly. "...Anyway. I think there's something I should do. You don't seem to know how to use your power to change stuff at all. Get your buster out."

"Uh, okay!" The end of Treble's tail was replaced by the buster he barely used. Treble reached around and grabbed it, holding it in front of him.

"Okay, using cybeast power... or whatever your power counts as is pretty easy. Just give it instructions with your soul, the simpler the better. How it interprets things is different between me and Flare, and probably you too."

"My soul? Um... how?"

"Don't _think_ you want it. _Want_ it."

Treble focused. "...Oh, it's like causing bugs. I've got this! Here I go!" his hands started to glow a bit, and the buster started to glitch out.

Gregar looked closely. "I think you're doing it right. Give it more power, you're holding back too much."

"Okay... POWEEEEER!" Yelled Treble. There was a small explosion.

Gregar jumped back. "About right!"

Treble got to his feet. "Ow, my tail. Do you think that worked?" He formed the buster. "Oh it worked!"

"Try it. You can use that power for other things too. I don't think you're very efficient with it though. You seem tired, and you only modified a buster."

Treble tried holding the buster steady, and gave it an experimental shot.

Gregar whipped his hand back in surprise. "Watch where you're aiming that!"

"I wasn't aiming at you!" Said Treble. "I was just thinking that I have trouble hitting anything with it, and I must have added some kind of lock-on."

"Huh. I guess that's not bad, but still not great. Want that rematch?" Said Gregar.

Arthur stepped in. "Treble, I know you want to, but for Flare's sake we should put all our time into finding her."

"That'll do more harm than good." Said Gregar. "She's gone into hiding, right?"

"...Yeah." Said Treble.

"It's so she can focus. If she doesn't have any distractions, it'll help her out. So fight me while we wait for her to be done. Then go grab that Ember navi. I want to fight her, too. Practice makes perfect."

"Okay then." Said Arthur. "Hub, do you have time to do this? ...Actually, I'm surprised Gregar would just let some random guy operate him. How did that happen?"

Hub smiled. "We just felt a bit of a connection. I've got half an hour before I need to go. So, Gregar, battle routine set!"

Gregar gave his music box a shove to one side, out of harm's way. "Executing!"

"Treble, destroy!" Said Arthur.

Hub already had a handful of chips. "FastGauge, DoubleShot, NeoVariableSword, Prism battlechips in, download! Setting to SuperSonicBoom!"

Arthur's jaw nearly dropped, but he held on. "Reflector2, CornShot2, ElementBreath in!"

Gregar leapt forwards, and as he landed the floor in front was catapulted forwards at mach pace. Treble was just about able to get the Reflector up to prevent the damage, but that left the SuperSonicBoom unavoidable, cutting into his chest with a green blast. Gregar opened fire with his buster, while Treble dashed to the side and fired the CornShot, the bizarre gun finding its mark and leaving grass around Gregar's feet. Gregar totally ignored the damage, and hurled the Prism towards Treble.

Hub slotted in his next batch of chips. "Here we go, Spreader, triple download! Program advance, HyperBurst!"

Treble suddenly realised he either needed to move or get blasted to bytes, and leapt forwards to evade the wrath of the Prism. He avoided a HyperBurst in the face by a distance too small to calculate, and then was nearly knocked off his feet by the spray of damage from the Prism, ricocheting off in every direction. Gregar charged to start attacking with his claws, and Treble swiped in to match him blow for blow, perhaps weaker in strength, but the extra speed compensating well enough. Gregar took a firm step back and put all his might into a devastating strike, but Treble hit first, raking him straight across the face before Gregar dunked him into the floor five paces away with his clawed punch, leaving his own set of marks on Treble's shoulder. Gregar tried to capitalise, but from the floor Treble blew fire over him, catching him off guard and letting Treble spring to his feet.

Arthur formulated a strategy, and hoped it could work. "BugAura, UnifyCode, Gregar navi chip in!"

Hub grinned. "Northwind, M-Cannon, AntiDamage, and Thunder, battlechips in, download!"

"Why does everyone have NorthWind?!" Protested Treble, as his aura lasted a grand total of half a second.

"If you don't have it, then you're an idiot. Auras are annoying... unless they're on your side." Said Gregar, raising the M-cannon as his aura came to life. Treble summoned the copy of Gregar, hoping it would be able to get through Gregar's defence. Gregar's M-Cannon went just a little too low, and Treble sprung into the air, diving with his claws to effectively double team Gregar using a copy of Gregar. The buster had been useless thanks to Gregar's innate aura, but there was no way Gregar could fend off both Treble's claws and his own, his aura going down and the last hit catching him on the arm. Gregar growled in anger, and wholeheartedly attempted to stuff the Thunder into Treble's mouth, but only managed to get him by the leg.

"It's over! DoublePoint, MeteorKnuckle battlechips in, download!" Said Hub.

"Oh no! Quick, AreaSteal, LongBlade in!"

Treble teleported forwards, but it wasn't enough to save him from the rain of giant fists, each one punching for terrible damage. He tried to cut with the LongBlade, just barely still in the fight, and then Gregar disappeared for a second, before a shuriken caught Treble in the chest, sending him down.

"Got you." Said Gregar. "Now we're even."

"Back, Treble." Said Arthur. "Hub, you're _amazing_ at operating. You should start entering tournaments."

"I just borrowed these chips. And... actually, I better go now. See you later!" Hub left abruptly, looking at a watch on his arm.

"Actually... will you be ok if I go, too? It's getting kind of late." Said Arthur.

"I'll be fine. I could probably break out if my guard turned a blind eye." Said Gregar.

"Who is your guard, actually? I haven't seen them anywhere..." Said Arthur.

"They're hidden." Said Treble. "I could smell them in there, though."

Arthur felt a chill behind him and turned. Miyabi was in one corner, watching silently. The ninja put his hands together and faded into the shadow completely. "...Ok, I see why you only think you could escape if he let you. Bye, for now."

"Bye Gregar! Stay out of trouble!" Called Treble, as Arthur started to leave.

* * *

Arthur stepped into his house to see his parents waiting. His dad looked up from a book. "Trouble with the beasts?"

"Not really, to be honest." Said Arthur. "We've cleared one's name, so that means we can focus on the other."

"Cleared their name? How?"

"We found a memory file that proved Gregar wasn't the original aggressor. It was a defective program that antagonised him into attacking, and Scilabs rallied behind it since they didn't know it was defective, and things spiraled out of control from there."

"Hm. Well, just make sure you play things safe. You can't expect either side to forget a grudge in a day. Anything we can do to help with Falzar?"

"No, at least, not for now." Said Arthur.

"Well, don't hesitate to call on us if you need us. We're honestly enjoying the action. Reminds us of the old days." Said his father.

"I won't forget to. I'm just going to head to bed for now, it's been a long day." Said Arthur.

"Alright, see you tomorrow."

Arthur headed up the stairs and flopped onto the bed. "Whoo... so, Flare... what should we do, if we can't actually go near her without making things worse? There has to be something we can do."

"I think I should just go and look for more BugFrags. I'll hit 1000 health soon, and that means I'll give us another chip!" Said Treble.

"...Yeah, good idea. I'll start strategizing. Go hunt, Treble." Arthur stared up at the ceiling, running through ideas in his head.

* * *

Arthur woke up in his clothes, realising he'd drifted off where he was lying. "I... didn't realise I was that tired."

"Me neither! I guess you gotta rest while you can though. You're going to run yourself out of batteries... or whatever people take." Said Treble. "By the way, transform me! It's pretty uncomfortable feeling like there's a chip lodged in your mouth!"

"On it." Arthur sat up to look at Treble's health. All the way up to 1020. "Pretty good. We should go have another rematch with Gregar. That MeteorKnuckle caught us by surprise last time."

"Yeah, Hub's operating was crazy. He had a really high synchro rate with Gregar too, somehow. It was like they knew each other."

"Yeah... I want to know where he borrowed those chips from, too. He really hammered you with a constant stream of attacks." Arthur fed the three chips into the PET.

Treble transformed with a shock, sitting. "OKAY, HAH!" The chip came out easily, bouncing along the floor. Treble leaned his head down close to look at it. "HEY, THAT'S ACTUALLY PRETTY USEFUL!"

"What is it? A giga chip?"

"WIDEBLADE B. WITH THAT LONGBLADE, WE CAN USE LIFESWORD!"

"Hm. That is pretty useful. Especially since we use a lot of B-coded chips. So, I've come to the conclusion our best option for now is to just get prepared. We should hunt down BugFrags, we should try and get through some more of the Secret Area, and we should try and find more rare chips. Maybe check out the Graveyard or that Nebula Area Denny mentioned?"

"GOOD PLAN! LET'S GET EVERYONE TOGETHER AND GO INTO THE SECRET AREA!"

"Sure thing." Arthur opened his email, and noticed two were waiting. "Hey, what are- You weren't connected to the PET last night, were you?"

"UH, NO?"

"Well... 'From Yuichiro: The Giga chip has been completed successfully! I was able to get some great data from this, so thanks. If you need to make another one, it'll take a day and twenty thousand zenny. Good luck, Arthur and Treble.' Attached is a chip..." Arthur put his last blank chromed chip into the PET, and it took a couple of seconds to write the data. The chip popped out, now displaying a picture of Treble's original form breathing multicolour fire. "GSTreble X. 150 damage, 'Long-ranged ElementBreath 4 times!'."

"LET'S GO TRY IT OUT! GET EVERYONE TOGETHER AT THE SECRET AREA!" Said Treble.

"Sure thing. Just a moment..."

"INVITE EMBER TOO!"

A wave of replies came in. Joe, 'Of course, wait for us.'

William. 'We'll be there in five.'

Denny. 'Can't, waiting for someone.'

Blaze. 'Uh... Denny asked me to wait in the gift shop for a hour, so... sorry.'

"WHAT'S DENNY UP TO?" Said Treble in confusion.

"I don't know, but if he hasn't asked for our help he doesn't need it. And anyway, you can't snoop on Denny. It just won't work."

"HEY, CAN I RUN THERE LIKE THIS? I'LL STAY OUT OF SIGHT!"

"Sure."

Treble bounded out of the page at high speed, running for a minute before slowing down and stopping. He looked back to the PET's screen. "ARTHUR... I'M REALLY WORRIED ABOUT FLARE. WHAT IF SHE'S REALLY GONE?"

"...I'm normally the pessimist here, but... I think Flare is still present. When the system sent her mad before, at least according to the legends, she attacked anything that was in her way, but now she's kept herself focused on just Gregar, and Alias reasoned with her. I think that proves Flare is still there."

"I CARE ABOUT HER, AND NOT JUST BECAUSE I'VE GOT A CRUSH. I FEEL SYMPATHY. SADNESS. EVEN IF ME AND GREGAR HAD IT ROUGH, GOT DELETED EVEN, SHE'S ALWAYS HAD IT WORSE. AT LEAST WE ALWAYS HAD CONTROL OF OURSELVES. I JUST... I'M JUST SO WORRIED WE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE HER."

"Treble... You're a good navi." Said Arthur softly. "Better than most people. I want to say... you're like family to me, and I'll support you to the very end. I promise that no matter what happens these next few days, I'll give you everything I've got. Your battles are my battles, for as long as we live."

"I CAN'T CRY OR HOWL HERE... THE TOWN'LL HEAR ME..."

"Treble... I'll never judge you for crying. Forget the town. "

What followed was an absolutely ear-splitting howl that lasted a full five seconds before quietening over another few seconds. Treble couldn't smile, but his colossal tail wagged a little. "I'M GLAD YOU OPERATE ME. LET'S GO GET THROUGH THE SECRET AREA."

* * *

Treble was serious about getting through the secret area. ArsenalMan on his back, and MathMan on ArsenalMan's back, he leapt from island to island, completely ignoring the invisible pathways and locked doors.

"I see the entrance to the next area. It's a little to the right." Said MathMan.

"GOTCHA!" Treble made another huge jump, landing near the door. "I HOPE THIS THING OPENS..."

'Show your power... collect 40 mega chips.'

"...I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH. YOU GUYS?"

"No good." Said MathMan. "...But if we pool our resources, that will add up. Let's all touch the door at once." He jumped down, and ArsenalMan followed. "On three... one, two, three."

They touched the door. 'You may pass, collector.' The door disappeared.

"ALRIGHT, GET BEHIND ME. I BET THERE'S A GUARD." Said Treble, stepping forwards. And the background darkened for a moment, before a navi appeared. Familiar white armor, and a stance that seemed different to before. More confident. "CRESCENDO?"

"...Treble? How did I end up here?" Said Crescendo in confusion. "One moment I was with Bass, the next..."

"ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT ME? I'M IN A BIT OF A RUSH, BUT I WON'T TURN YOU DOWN!"

"I'm much improved. See how I've grown!" Said Crescendo, raising his buster.

"...Hold on." Said MathMan. "You're not Crescendo. Watch this, everyone. Analysing now..." He held out a hand.

'Crescendo' stepped back. "What are you doin-" His image was replaced by a wireframe with a glowing orb in the centre.

"...It's just a program designed to make an illusion. I doubt it had Crescendo's true abilities, either. Now... begone." MathMan waved his hand to the side, and sent a shutdown command. "It would probably have been more dangerous if it couldn't have been analysed."

"NEAT TRICK! LET'S GO LOOK IN THE NEXT AREA, THEN!"

Arthur heard a short beep from the PET. "Wait, we have mail." Then he gasped. "Okay, time to retreat. It's from Flare's number, but the sender is Falzar."

"WHAT?!"

"Hold on... 'Treble. Come to the chip shop SheepMan used as a front, alone. And hurry. I don't want to stay in one place for long'."

"WE HAVE TO GET DOWN THERE!"

* * *

While ArsenalMan and MathMan logged out, Treble ran for the shop. He dropped origin form to fit through the door, but then Arthur spoke. "Wait just a moment. Let's refresh our chips in case you have to fight."

"But... I don't know if I can fight her. I could fight anyone else, but Flare?"

"I just want you to be safe and prepared. Anyway, that was enough time. Go ahead."

Treble stepped into the shop. It was still as clean as before, but now that it was empty it just seemed lifeless. "Flare? Hello?"

There was a loud clunk, and the door sealed behind Treble. Flare... or perhaps Falzar stepped out of the back room. "Treble. I've shut out Arthur, and the outside doors are sealed. We can talk freely."

"Flare... no, wait. Should I call you Falzar like this?" Said Treble.

"I'm Falzar, I think. It is hard to tell." Said Falzar.

"Why did you call me here? And... well, what's happened to Flare if she's not... here?"

"She's suppressed, barely awake. I didn't want her interfering."

"Give her back?" Said Treble hopelessly.

"Are you going to fight me? I know you can't."

"I... I can still win without any help! The ceiling's so low here, you couldn't fly away from my attacks."

Falzar's eyes glowed knowingly. "You'd rather tear your own heart out. I can't be fooled so easily. But I didn't call you here to fight you."

"...Why then?"

"You're not Gregar. You are a well-made fake, your signature is close to his, but I will not be tricked." Said Falzar.

"I won't just leave you alone! I want Flare back. And so do all her friends!"

"Neither I or Flare want to go back."

"Neither..? Falzar... I'll do anything. Even just to speak to her."

"There's nothing you have that I want."

"Then... wait, why did you call me here?!"

"I was hoping you would silence Flare. I'm no fool. I won't challenge my target until I'm ready, in absolute control."

"W-why would I make her stop fighting?!"

"Because she cares about you. That's why I agreed it was logical to see you. She opposes her destiny... and I am her destiny. If I have her favor... perhaps I can act freely."

"Flare... please come back..."

"She won't. You said you'd do anything? Then never put yourself at risk again. That would truly make Flare happy."

"...I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to upset you then, Flare." Said Treble. "I'd like to travel with you for a while, Falzar. I know Flare wants me to be safe, but I want her to be safe. I won't help you delete her brother and best friend, but I'll protect both of you until I can figure out something for that problem."

"...I never thought I would agree with not only Flare, but also my enemy Gregar. Treble, are you insane?"

"Maybe. Are you going to tell me I can't, or fly off? There's also a third option where you say yes without an argument."

"I can't fly off, this is a sealed room. So you can't. I won't sow discord in my control of this body."

"...Flare, if you can hear me in there... don't worry about me. I can't really offer more, I'm a fighter, not a thinker. But we'll be safer together."

"Safer together?" Said Falzar in confusion. "Explain."

"Bass." Said Treble simply. "He's still out there. I think Gregar could only beat him because he had a fight with your power. He still beat me yesterday. And I'm sure he could beat you. I'm sticking with you for now. He's _not_ getting a chance."

"...I admire your logic. Or perhaps hardheadedness. But there's one condition."

"Anything."

"You're not to be in contact with your NetOp unless I allow it. I won't be stabbed in the back." Said Falzar. Treble could have sworn he saw her shudder as she said that. "...But Flare trusts you not to do that."

"Okay, but I want to explain things to him!" Said Treble.

"...Reasonable enough."

* * *

"Um... well, I guess that's not the worst idea I've heard, but you're not designed to go solo." Said Arthur. "I can understand your feelings, though. Let me load you some attacks."

"You're just... letting me go? I was worried you would get overprotective."

"I don't have a better idea. And I really do trust you. You'll be back in one piece. Now, I'm giving you BugAura, UnifyCode and Origin. You'll need to wait a few moments for the secondary body backup to transfer, since Fla- Falzar wants the PET disconnected... alright, done."

"So... what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go to Scilabs, and wait for you there. You can still jack out through any port, after all. And I think I ought to make sure... our other friend doesn't go on the net right now."

"Who? Oh, riiiight." Said Treble. "Then... this is goodbye for a little while."

"It only has to be goodbye for the time it takes me to ride to Scilabs. But... goodbye, for a little while. Be safe now, alright? I meant what I said earlier."

"Don't make me emotional in front of Falzar." Said Treble jokingly. But he went serious quickly. "...Well. Connection, off!"

The PET screen went blank. 'Connection disabled!'

Arthur looked up. "... I shouldn't get lost in thoughts. I might miss the train. But please don't do anything stupid..."

 **Author's notes: So, for curiosity's sake, here's Arthur's main folder! Chips might deviate based on situation though, notably they have other navi chips and NorthWind.**

 **Thunder * x2, Reflector2 B x2, Guard *, Sword *, WideBlade B, LongBlade *, Spreader1 (C, D, E), AquaNeedle1 M x2, FireBurn2 B x2, AirHockey M x2, VariableSword B, AreaSteal S x2, CornShot2 B x2, FlashBomb2 B x2, BugAura Y, UnifyCode *, GregarEX C, MathManEX M, BugCharge/BugRiseSword, ElementBreath B.**

 **Reviewer answer!**

 **RushAlias: Thanks! Original solutions and scenarios are what define each writer. It's good to know I've got interesting ones.**

-Deleted scene-

Gregar landed away from Ember, the practice match in full swing. "Oh, that's it! Time for my new technique!" He placed his hand in front of his face, pointing to his eyes with his claws. His aura surged up behind him, a great glowing copy of his old self. " _BEHOLD THE POWER OF MY STAND_ , 「CYBERBEAST GREIGA」!"

Ember and Blaze exchanged an awkward glace. "Have you been watching Jojo's?" Said Blaze with a muffled laugh.

"This is why deleted scenes are non-canon..." Said Ember.


	29. Chapter 29: Assassins

The PET beeped. "...Mail? Huh, who from..." Arthur opened the message.

'From: Denny

If your navi is on the net, log them out for an hour please. You'll thank me later.'

Arthur tapped his reply.

'Can't, we temporarily split up so Treble could keep an eye on Falzar. On the train at the moment.'

The reply came in less then ten seconds.

'Please get to Scilabs as fast as possible.'

* * *

"...So, where are we going Falzar? You seem lost."

"I can sense Gregar's power, but I can't find a path to it. It's as if it's both connected to the net and sealed off." Said Falzar. "..."

"Are you totally sure?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I know where all his power is. He's got about 60%, maybe a bit more? And MegaMan has the rest. There's none on the net right now."

"...I am sure of it. Help me locate this power."

"...Yeah, alright. I'll sniff for it. But I'll need to be in the general area. Any idea where it might be?"

"...Judging by my readouts... It's all together... I just can't make it out? Why can't I find a path to it?" Said Falzar.

"Um... maybe there's a- _Flare, watch out!_ " There was a sparking sound as a ZapRing was deflected by BugAura.

Falzar's head whipped around to see who'd fired it. A pair of darkly armored navis were standing there. "You won't get in my way." She said automatically.

Dark navi one stared. "Intel was wrong?"

Dark navi two pressed a hand to their ear. "Got 2 with 6. send a 'lil backup."

Treble was slightly crouched, like a pressed spring. His claws were ready, and he was close enough to Falzar that the aura was a shield. "Back. Off." He growled.

"Attack. Shoot to capture. Focus our specialised target." Said one of the navis. They raised an M-cannon, and it bounced off the BugAura harmlessly.

"Squad 6, move now." Said the other. And suddenly, ten other navis jumped from hiding, surrounding Treble and Falzar.

Falzar looked at them in contempt. "...Locked on."

"Flare, you make the first move. I can't stay close to you when you fly, so be careful." Said Treble quietly.

Falzar fired a pair of Wing Boomerangs without warning, striking the closest navi to fragments. Treble activated his tail buster and started firing, the empowered buster actually doing decent damage per hit now. Nonetheless, the BugAura could only last until it took 250 damage at once, and a pair of well-timed M-cannons was enough. The aura flickered and died, and the remaining assassins charged.

That was a large mistake on their part, as Falzar lifted into the air and started hailing them with her buster, while Treble shot forwards, filled with rage and the will to survive. The nearest enemy suddenly lost their face as Treble slashed right through, and proceeded to take a fight against three at once. While normally those odds would have overwhelmed any navi, there was a burning in Treble's heart. Many combined feelings, from finding out he made the right decision to come with Falzar, to fear at the sudden attack, to rage that someone would attack, hatred for attacking Flare, and most of all, the desire to absolutely destroy this enemy. Treble was a blur, his rage fuelling a never-ending storm of claw swipes. His enemy was fighting dirty, trying to gang up on him and use FlashBombs and ZapRings that would have knocked Falzar out of the sky, but he was too fast, destroying every bomb mere moments after it left the thrower's hands, dodging every Thunder, every sword and every cannon, and more often than not striking back ferociously, taking huge chunks from his target's hit points with no intention to spare. His bugs spread like a disease, and before long the squad was buckling under Treble's furious assault.

Then he heard a yelp, and from the corner of his eye saw Flare hit the ground, struck from behind with a Static.

Before the attacker could follow up with another cheap shot, Treble was in the way. The blast was enough to make him stumble, but his anger was reaching critical mass. Arthur's caring presence while Treble was new to the net had instilled values of mercy, of forgiveness. And they would stay with Treble forever. But in the face of this enemy, the ones who hurt Flare? No mercy. No forgiveness. And no hesitation.

Of the twelve assassins, six were still functioning.

A roar ripped into the hearts of the assassins as Treble grabbed the nearest one and threw him like he was weightless, and they crashed into another assassin hard enough to delete them. Treble saw one so much as begin to move, and in a berserker rage stabbed both claws into them, all but tearing them in half in the space of a second. A third was starting to take a step back in fear when Treble caught him with his jaws. He didn't often bite, since it was a close-quarters move that left his body in place for a second, but he clamped down with enough force to delete in one blow. Not staying still long enough to be attacked, Treble jumped high into the air, and saw Falzar using winds to shred another assailant. Of the two remaining, Treble struck the closest one twice, feeling a surge of joy as they dissolved into nothing. One left, heading for Flare. Treble dashed forwards and grabbed their neck, lifting them off the ground in a vice-like grip. He radiated satisfaction, staring into their face and seeing absolute terror in it, And he had an idea. He reached for his own 'soul', and told it what he wanted, with his whole being. _Make them suffer._

"I always wanted to totally destroy a navi." Said Treble in a psychotic, almost happy tone. There was a low crackle as purple energy surged out of Treble's hand, wrapping around the assassin's body and throwing their arms out to the side. They started to shatter, code bugging at a rate nearly unheard of. Treble intensified the blast of power, and there was a blinding flash as their body disintegrated around them, but their AI was still around for a few extra moments, as every memory was systematically corrupted and the personality matrix torn to individual letters. And then the AI was gone too, deleted to such a degree as to be irreparable.

Treble looked around as the burning rage ended, and then took a deep breath. He stumbled over to Falzar. "Are... are you... alright?"

"I never knew you had that kind of sadism in you." Said Falzar.

"...I don't regret it." Said Treble. He sat down as the explosion of inner rage faded, and Treble realised how much of his own energy he'd burned to fuel those attacks. "...Whew... you seem okay... I'm glad you're not hurt, Flare."

"More are coming. We need to fall back to defensible terrain." Said Falzar.

Treble got to his feet. "I'll fight to the end... let's go."

* * *

Arthur hit the ground running. He wasn't the fittest, but if Denny gave an instruction like that then it was serious alright. He felt like he was suffocating as he reached the top of the steps to Scilabs in record time, bursting through the doors and nearly shouting at the receptionist. "Which room?!"

"Ah, Four?"

Arthur made it in to see Denny. "Denny! What's going on?"

"Co-ordinated attack. We'll be hit in two minutes. You're too late for Treble, he'll already have been hit. Go and make sure Gregar doesn't go onto the main net." The words hit like a shattering window.

"What do you mean..."

"If he was on the net, they'd have reached him first. Look, think about it later or else we're all going to lose our navis!"

"Who are 'they'?! Denny! He hasn't been deleted, has he?!"

"Truthfully we don't know if Treble's been deleted, but at this point he's either gone or he's fought them off. And... they're after the six legendary foes."

"Who are those? Please just explain? And I'm getting Treble now!" Arthur took his PET and suddenly the words on the screen hit him as hard as bricks. 'Navi disconnected'.

"The LifeVirusR. Treble. Alpha. Nebula gray. Gregar. Falzar." Said Denny. "The six most powerful programs ever deleted but not erased. Look, there's no time right now. Go guard Gregar! That's an order!"

Arthur's heart screamed and screamed, but he knew that it was no good. He couldn't contact Treble unless Treble unblocked him, and that wouldn't happen in a fight.

* * *

"This place will have to do." Said Falzar. "We'll choke them on this bridge."

"I WILL NOT LET THEM PAST." Said GS-Treble determinedly.

"Be wary of break attacks." Reminded Falzar. "And do not use any more of your energy. Your cybeast power will be totally depleted for some time after using so much."

"I'M NOT A CYBEAST, THOUGH?"

"...Giant, self aware program with godlike yet limited powers? Coded entirely differently to a navi? You're a cybeast."

"...HM. COOL." Treble's head drooped a little. The last fight had really drained him. "I THINK THEY'RE COMING."

"I will delete them. They will not stop me."

The bridge proved to be an excellent defensive position. While it seemed this group's strategy revolved around a lot of Break attacks, especially AuraHead, they had no choice but to try charging forward in two lines. Treble could barely fuel Junk Flyer, but it was still doing decent damage to their ranks. Falzar was devastating them with her Wing Boomerangs, and when all twelve were on the bridge she suddenly broke the panels behind them and used Junk Reborn to crush the back line to dust. But then, from the corner of her eye, Falzar saw an attack hurtling for her, without a chance she could dodge. A flying, flaming skull.

Treble was too good at intercepting blows for his own good, and the skull hit him instead. He'd reared up to block it, and it caught him in the open mouth. This wouldn't have been a problem while Treble was still at over a thousand health, but he couldn't quite see where he was putting his foot down when the skull exploded. It went clear over the edge of the bridge, and suddenly Treble was falling. "NOOOO!"

Falzar watched her only ally crashed to the floor below. It was a good thing fall damage wasn't as big of a deal in the cyberworld, but the skull seemed to be some kind of powerful channelled attack. She turned and calmly started spraying the area the attack had come from with her buster. A navi became visible, holding a staff and trying to dodge. Without any distractions or the ability to cast safely, it was over for them before it had begun.

* * *

An alarm blared. Gregar looked out. "What's going on? Fire?"

"...No. It's some kind of attack."

"Then let me help! I'll beat them easily."

"I think they're after you, but I'm not sure. If Treble was here..."

"He isn't?"

"Falzar allowed him to travel with her, since he wanted to keep her safe- on the condition he was disconnected from his PET while he travelled. I've been split with him for all of two hours and everything's gone to pieces."

"So, who's attacking? If they're after me, will they go after Falzar too?"

"...I guess so. But I don't know who it is. Hey, is that computer connected to anything? You should fall back to somewhere defensive." Said Arthur. "Or set a trap. Standard stuff when you know an attack's coming."

"I have a better idea. Have you got Treble's PET?"

"Uh, if you're willing to go into it. The attackers couldn't hope to find you in there."

"No. But I'd be okay having you operate me. You cleared my name, after all. I'm going to head into the main Scilabs area and lend a hand either way. The doors on the detention area are pretty flimsy." Said Gregar, starting to move off.

"Just remember, you'll be the main target at all times. As soon as you're out there, they'll be gunning for you."

"Story of my life." Deadpanned Gregar.

* * *

GS-Treble opened his eyes to see three walls. Everything hurt, thanks to the break attacks he'd intercepted, but his large health pool had kept him safe enough. But the skull attack seemed to have been some kind of energy drain, on top of his tired state. And now that he thought to check, his health was actually really low, at 112. Strange, he could have sworn he had more when he fainted. Then he woke enough to remember everything that had just happened. "...FLARE?"

No reply.

"FLARE?!" He said, voice quieter than he'd expected.

Still nothing. Treble was about to force himself to his feet, when there was a presence near-ish him. He relaxed, both the smell and feel of the power familiar. And his head felt heavy. Treble just breathed out and lay where he was, feeling beat-up but happy enough.

There were some footsteps, and he could feel Falzar walk in front of him. She was holding something, too. The smell was unmistakable: BugFrags. Falzar took a couple more steps, and Treble felt her hands on his face. They were oddly gentle. Treble was suddenly aware his health was rising a little, and he felt the spent feeling begin to leave his body. He just relaxed completely.

Treble was surprised then, as Falzar started talking to herself. "...She really cares about you. It's easy to see why. You're loyal to a fault. But you're just so naive. More than even her." Falzar seemed to finish giving him the BugFrags, and Treble felt a hand rest on his cheek. "You try so hard to please everyone. To make sure nobody you care about gets deleted, that everything works out in the end ...You idiot. Someone's going to get deleted. Either me or Gregar. And isn't that why you followed me? To make sure I didn't- no, Flare didn't get deleted? While you tried to find a loophole? Some way to cheat fate? ...Flare. Yes, you did this all to keep Flare safe. To get Flare back from me. To free her, give her back her sanity." Said Falzar bitterly. "But you know what? I've been around for a long time. I know I don't need anyone to protect me. Not Ethan, not Alias, and sure as the hellscape that the underground is, not you. If I were alone, I could simply delete Gregar... and then, at last...

...Then what? I'll delete his ghost..?" Falzar sighed. "...It's a good thing you're unconscious right now."

Treble felt some weight on one of his forelegs, and realised Falzar was using it as a bench. He realised he really wasn't meant to hear any of that, and while part of him was hurt at Falzar not really wanting him here, part of him had already suspected Flare had pushed the system into it. It hurt a lot more to know that she felt so hopeless when he was trying to give her hope, and he had no idea if there was anything he could do about that. And the fact that no matter how he tried he might still fail to save both the beasts scared him. That he could be stronger than even MegaMan, or Bass and still fail. _I wish I knew what to do. I'm trying my best, but I'm just a fighter..._

Treble turned the words over in his mind, again and again. He realised he was getting drowsy again, his energy still low. And then, finally, he spotted something. There was something that seemed wrong about the way the system had spoken. While normally it was devoid of emotions, just a being driven by logic and fixated on one goal, now it seemed... almost a full navi. It had emotion, it could see the bigger picture. And Flare clearly wasn't currently awake enough to influence it, either. Was the system... more than everyone thought?

* * *

Gregar kicked down the door and glanced around. The area seemed a touch quiet. The battle had to be going on elsewhere. "Where will they be fighting?"

"There's only one way in or out of this area. But are you sure you should be on the net right now, with Falzar looking for you?"

"If she gets close, then I'll sense her." Gregar summoned the bike, and gave the handle a short twist, blasting off. But he only travelled for a short while before he swung to a stop. "...Wait, the enemy is near."

"Are you sure? We're still in the side areas. They can't have gotten past the front gate so easily, or I'd have heard people shouting in the physical world."

Before Gregar could reply, there was a short scream from his left. One word, in a voice all too familiar. "HELP!"

Gregar jumped for a wall that was in the way and scaled it like it was nothing, vaulting over to see something that shocked him to his core. He saw his disguised self, saber in hand, in front of _Flare_ as a Navi wrapped in white, almost translucent armor tried to hit him with a sickle, a cocky grin flashing. 'Colonel' was losing badly, barely on his feet and injured, yet still between Flare and the attacker. Gregar didn't hesitate for even a moment.

"YOU! GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Shouted Gregar, leaping down. His claws found their mark against the distracted enemy, and Gregar had enough experience fighting against scythe users to know just where to aim against a sickle. He slipped past the foe's guard and nearly deleted them in one blow, sending them crashing back from the force of his attack.

The translucent-armored navi suddenly lost the cocky sense about them. "They said there'd be no guards!" He hissed. "No matter, die!" He tried to cut forwards again. A grave mistake. Gregar fired a TailArrow straight into the attacker's chest, and prepared to strike.

"Gregar, destroy!" Instructed Arthur. "Thunder, GSTreble in!"

Gregar had no problem following that order. The Thunder found its mark, leaving the ghost-like enemy rooted to the spot and Gregar activated the Giga chip, knowing only it was going to be powerful. The copy of Treble's origin form materialised, and spewed a sea of Red, then Blue, Yellow, Green fire forwards, every wave doing a serious amount of damage, and leaving the attacker in double-digit health. Before they could recover, Gregar leapt onto them and slammed them to the floor hard, completely pinned.

The Colonel-like navi stumbled forwards. Gregar suddenly noticed something about him. This navi was still in development, adolescent by navi standards. Something inside him was especially enraged by that. Even the dirtiest of tactics the officials had been forced into against him hadn't stooped so low as even endangering a child. Even most navis on the Undernet weren't that bad.

"You... absolute scum." Said Gregar. He looked back to 'Colonel'. "Look away."

"What are you going to do to them?" Said Arthur, suddenly a tiny bit afraid.

Gregar's power surged around him, and the assassin flailed, their body starting to break apart. There was suddenly a flash, and Gregar was standing about two steps forwards, hunched over a little. The ghostly one was nowhere to be seen. _Where did he-_ Gregar made a motion like he was swallowing something, answering that question. "...I'd have deleted him, but I want information. So we'll rip that out before I give him what he deserves."

There was a whimper behind him, from the navi that looked like Flare. The young Colonel stepped over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Iris! Iris, are you okay?!"

Iris took a shaky breath. "Brother..." She started crying. "Are we going to be deleted?"

Gregar realised they were scared of him, too. "I'm not here to hurt you." He shimmered, putting on his disguise. "I'm here to protect you."

Colonel looked up. "I... I'm not scared of you! You won't trick me by looking like me."

"You don't have to be scared. Please, find somewhere safe." Said Gregar sincerely. Arthur realised his voice was almost exactly the same as Colonel's, perhaps a bit deeper.

Colonel seemed wary. "But... we thought this place was safe."

Arthur had a good idea. "Gregar, you should stay with them and protect them. It's obvious they're an important target, and there might be more assassins."

"Good idea. You two... do you know anywhere around here that only has one way in or out? I can defend that easily."

Colonel shyed away a bit, then stumbled again. Iris caught him. "Brother, your wounds!"

Gregar leaned in. "...They're bad. He can't take another hit. Iris... can you carry him? I need to react fast if we're attacked."

Iris was just able to hold Colonel up. "Please, save my brother!"

"I will. If I switch back to my other form, will you be scared? That one would be easier to defend you two."

"...Yes." Said Iris. "But I just want to keep my brother safe."

Gregar nodded. "Stay as close to me as you can." He dropped the disguise, and his aura bubbled him. It covered a larger area than normal, but not that large. "...Arthur, do you know any way I can expand it more? If I stretch it too thin then it won't be as protective."

"Take this." Said Arthur, slotting in BugAura.

Gregar's aura took on a slightly grey tone, expanding much farther. "Alright, you kids stand inside this."

Iris gingerly touched the grey-green energy. It didn't repel her. "...What is this?"

"It's an aura." Explained Gregar, feeling unusually like a tutor. "It'll deflect attacks that do less than a certain amount of damage."

Colonel looked around curiously. "...Sorry I got hurt, Iris."

Gregar felt a surge of protectivity towards the two children. "I'll keep you safe. Arthur, is it possible to send some recovery chips? Can you send them to these two?"

"...I think so..." Arthur scrolled through a few menus. "Um... here, you'll be able to give it to Colonel. I don't have many recovery chips."

Gregar recieved a Recover80. "Take this. It'll heal some of your injuries."

Colonel healed a bit, and stood straighter. "Thanks, mister... uhh... what's your name?"

"I'm Gregar."

"Thanks, mister Gregar!"

"No problem. Let's keep going. Battle and children should be kept apart."

Arthur looked around. The alarms were still blaring, but they hadn't gotten worse and everything still seemed to be functioning normally. "I think Scilabs is winning the battle. I hope everyone's okay. I need to have someone check on Treble."

A few more minutes passed. Gregar and the two kids holed up in an alley, with one way in. Eventually, the sirens stopped. "Is it over?" Said Gregar. "...Or are there going to be more assassins?"

"I think the attack is over. Let's head to the entrance. And try and find someone to hand these two over to." Said Arthur.

Gregar started walking out of the corrdor, moving for the entrance. The two children followed. "Are you kids okay?"

"Thanks to you!" Said Colonel. "That was so cool, how you just beat that guy in a few seconds!"

Gregar could have sworn he heard a voice in his head. _He's not like me._ "...Battle is only cool if nothing depends on it. Trust me."

"So how did you manage to look like me?" Said Colonel, voice filled with wonder.

"That's a long story." Said Gregar. "Very long."

"I want to hear it!"

"No. We'd scare Fl- Iris." Said Gregar. "Iris, how are you feeling?"

"..."

"Iris?" Said Colonel.

"I'm okay." Said Iris, in a tiny voice.

Gregar was quiet for a bit, unsure what to do. "...Good."

They kept walking, and eventually came to the entrance. A lot of navis were milling around, mostly seeming to be recovering from a fight. Gregar called out. "Everyone? I have some navis here, they were attacked."

The attention shifted to him. PlugMan pushed his way out of the crowd. He was in a bad way, while he didn't show any signs of damage from battle he seemed ill, drained. "R-right... security..."

Ember followed him out of the crowd. "PlugMan?! You weren't supposed to help in the fight! You're already so weak, you could..."

"I want to do everything I can. Better to exist as a good memory than a useless navi." Said PlugMan weakly. "Security?"

A couple of orange navis came over. "How can we help?"

"Can you just guide those two young programs back to safety? Gregar can stay." Said PlugMan.

"Yes sir."

Ember looked at PlugMan in exasperation. "Jack out. I'll handle the talking. Go on."

PlugMan nodded, and logged out.

"What's wrong with him?" Said Gregar.

Ember looked downcast. "Not really my place to say. What happened to those two? And why are you outside the detention computer?"

"They got attacked. An enemy slipped through." Said Gregar. "And you'll have to forgive me for kicking the door down, but I'm not standing by while we get attacked. That's not how I do things."

"Fair enough. If you want to go with those two for now, that would be good. You can keep an eye on them for a while. Anyway, I'll see you for that rematch later, once I've sorted all this out." Said Ember.

"Once they're safe, you'd better come into my PET for a while until that door can be repaired. We don't want to attract Falzar." Said Arthur. "Oh, and can you tell Ember I need to ask her a favor?"

"Hey Ember. Can you have your NetOp speak to Arthur later?"

"Sure."

* * *

Treble woke up, feeling refreshed. The first thing he realised was Falzar was leaning against his neck, dozing. Treble found that both incredibly endearing and a bit embarrassing at the same time. "...FLARE." He said gently. Then the vented frustrations came back to him, and he decided to call something else. "FALZAR?" he rumbled. "WAKE UP."

Falzar didn't seem to be in a deep sleep, and sat up quickly. "Oh, you're up. Let's go." Treble got a look at her, and saw she was in a new disguise now, or perhaps simply her navi form without cosmetics. Her jumpsuit was a vivid red, the dress gone. Her chestplate remained, but it was joined by a pair of light shoulderguards and a helmet. The helmet framed her face neatly, a lock of now blond hair visible from the front. It was still unmistakably Flare's face, but the eyes were the same red as the jumpsuit, a piercing stare within. Treble wasn't about to say anything, but she looked beautiful AND deadly.

"OKAY." Treble got to his feet, careful not to step on Falzar. Although that probably wouldn't have hurt her.

"...You should return to your navi form. I don't want to attract attention." Said Falzar.

"OKAY!" Treble shrunk back to normal. "Better?

"I'm fully healed. And I've decided upon a plan." Said Falzar. "I want to reclaim the last of my power. Perhaps it can help me locate this elusive data."

"Reclaim? From where?"

"I stored 5% of my power within Alias' pet Mettaur, Zoano. It has not been automatically regenerated, as it already exists. Thus, I must reclaim it. And, I think that seeing them might help keep Flare calmed."

"Um... when you have all your power, will you change back into your original self?"

"Yes. I will become Cybeast Falzar. However, I will not discard my navi form. It has many practical uses."

"..." Treble wanted to ask about Flare, but after Falzar's private rant, he hesitated for a second. Yet his care for Flare won out in the end, anyway. "What's going to happen to Flare? Is she doing alright?"

"Her situation is unlikely to change." Said Falzar. "I'm simply adding to myself. Not overwriting anything. She does miss her allies."

Treble felt a dose of relief. "Alright. Then I'll help you. You can probably get it without a fight."

"What would you suggest? You have a better knowledge of the situation there."

"Well, I think they know Zoano has the only power you need. But I think I could convince them to let you have it. You wouldn't hurt anyone, right?"

"You're being naive. And even then, why would you help me get more powerful? Or further my goals at all? And of course I won't. Flare wants to see everyone again, even if I feel no attachment."

"Because I think that's the best thing to do. Keeping going is the best thing I can think of for both of us. But... if you want to talk to me about anything, I'll listen."

"Hmm. I do have a question, but it can wait." Said Falzar.

* * *

Gregar was deposited back into his holding area. "I wonder about those two. I hope they're going to be okay."

"I'm sure they will be. I'll ask about them, if you'd like. But for now, I have to go catch up to everyone else. Denny has some serious explaining to do... and I HAVE to send someone to look for Treble. That can't wait any longer." Said Arthur, walking out of the room. It was just a few short steps to reach Denny's room. He walked into what was basically some kind of war meeting. Blaze, Denny, and Lan himself were present, along with Chaud and a pink-haired girl Arthur didn't recognise.

Denny looked up. "Ah, Arthur. I owe you some explanations."

"First things first, I want to send someone after Treble. I need to know if he's okay." Said Arthur.

Blaze smiled, but there was something missing from it. "I'll have Ember whip over."

"...Is everything okay?" Said Arthur.

"PlugMan's gone. Out of DarkPower." Said Denny simply. "We both knew it was coming. We did think we had a little longer, but he didn't want to waste time on goodbyes with everything that's been going on."

"How can you be so calm about that?" Said Arthur, shaken. "He was your Navi!"

"He's hurting." Said Blaze defensively. "He just doesn't show it."

"Anyway. I have a lot to explain." Said Denny. "I... no, Blaze has been doing a lot for you behind the scenes. While you helped us get through the cybeast threat, and you did a good job doing it peacefully, we've been handling another threat. A hidden one. although there were times you nearly found out."

"Tell me everything." Said Arthur. "Especially why they'd have gone after Treble."

"It's Eurasia." Said Denny simply. "Our evidence against them isn't quite good enough to have them arrested, but thanks to the efforts of Blaze we know that Morgan hasn't been slowed in his plans even after you blew his operations to a degree. They've been trying to kidnap six programs, and we only found out which ones recently. Blaze, if you would?"

Chaud stepped forward. "She's operating Ember right now." He turned to a case on the table, and unlatched it. "These were the targets." There were two PETs inside. A green one and a white one. "At least, two of them. We only knew their true identity once I questioned Ember where she found that memory, but she and Denny had a plan in place already, thankfully. These are the LifeVirusRevived and Alpha, in navi form. Or as they're now known, R and Beta."

Lan picked up the conversation. "I fought and deleted a few really powerful programs with MegaMan. But eight were just something else. Two of them are gone, the original LifeVirus and Duo, but the other six were just waiting to be brought back. If what these guys have found out is true, then this Morgan guy actually found some way of causing them to revive and take a Navi form, and he wanted to take them to use. But we can't let him have them."

"But why would they want these- sorry, stupid question." Said Arthur. "I've seen Treble's power. Gregar and Falzar's too. That kind of power would be invaluable to an institution like Eurasia."

"Their involvement has been something we've tried to minimise, so you could have your chance to resolve things with the cybeasts. I didn't let you know anything because not only would it have distracted you, but if you'd let the information leak then we wouldn't have had the chance to bait their forces into a trap." Said Denny. "Still, FakeMan nearly caused a disaster."

"FakeMan? ...Was he that one who tried to attack Flare, when you wanted to capture her?" Said Arthur.

"That's the one." Said Denny. "Honestly, we were scared you might get suspicious and find out Eurasia was still going strong when we brought him in."

"...I understand why you did all this, but I wish you'd told me." Said Arthur. "I'm angry, but at the same time, thanks. So now what?"

"For now, we'll keep things under control with Euraisa." Said Chaud. "With the cybeasts now less of a threat, although still serious, we can justify turning some resources away from them. We want you to see that situation through to its end, in fact. That frees up Burn and Blaze to completely focus on Eurasia."

"It's a big responsibility, but ok. I can call on you guys for help if I need it, right? Falzar is still a problem I can't answer yet."

"Of course." Said Chaud. "The officials are on your side now. You proved Gregar innocent. If you can just get Falzar under control, we can justify letting her go, too."

"Arthur, I've found Treble." Said Blaze with a warm smile. "He's ok!"

Arthur clapped a hand over his heart. "Whew... mind if I speak to him?"

* * *

Falzar stopped suddenly. "Official. I sense one."

Treble took a sniff. "Oh, it's Ember! EMBER! HIII!"

Falzar looked to Treble warily. "...Are you _a_ _bsolutely_ sure she can be trusted?"

"Yep! Ember's nice." Said Treble. "And if she's not, I'll protect you."

Ember dashed over, grinding to a halt. "Treble, good to see you're okay. Arthur's been worried."

"Is he there?"

"He actually just asked to speak to you." Said Ember. She noticed Falzar, behind Treble. "Falzar. I'm not going to attack. Rules aside, Treble wouldn't be too happy."

"To say the least." Said Falzar dryly, recalling Treble disintegrating a navi and enjoying it. "But I won't be impeded."

"Treble, if you search, then Arthur's PET is connected right now." Said Ember.

Treble connected to the PET to see Arthur. "Arthur! It feels like it's been forever."

"Oh, I'm so relieved you're okay!" Said Arthur. "I heard that some assassins were sent after you. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you..."

"Hey, it's alright! I was fine, and since I was with Falzar she was fine too."

"Good to hear. Scilabs got attacked, and there's another threat afoot as well. But we've been tasked with dealing with the cybeast conflict. Do you want to keep travelling with Falzar, or come back to me?"

"Well... uh, Falzar? You'll be going where I think you are next, won't you?" Said Treble. "We could meet up there. It's just, I really miss my NetOp. And you'll be safe from assassins around there, all your friends are around."

"I'll be fine. I don't need you." Said Falzar. "...I'm surprised you'd leave Flare's side."

"I don't want to be apart from either of you! Wait, maybe I could just stay connected to Arthur? You know you can trust me now." Said Treble hopefully.

"...Very well. But Ember will not be following us. I do not trust the officials." Said Falzar.

"Didn't plan to." Said Ember. "But we're trustworthy! Just don't do anything illegal!"

"Okay then. Let's go! With Arthur, I can't fail!" Said Treble.

Falzar sighed. So optimistic...

 **Author's notes: And we're finally getting near the end of the cybeast conflict! But there's more to do, any many powerful foes ahead. Hopefully this chapter isn't a plot overload, things will get a bit simpler soon. If there's anything you're confused about as a reader, leave a comment! I'll be glad to explain.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: They have a lot of faith in each other, as well as trust. Plus Arthur knows that leaving something as potentially dangerous as Falzar unchecked is a bad idea.**

 **RandyPandy: A single piece of context can change everything, right? Sometimes even the biggest villains aren't the ones at fault. SheepMan is definitely justified, but at the same time he's a pretty smart guy. He knows that Treble isn't pure evil and that trying to undermine him would be bad, even if he hates him. Now that I consider it, just how powerful would that kid be?**


	30. Chapter 30: Falzar

"So, there's a lot I need to tell you. Denny dropped a bit of a bombshell." Said Arthur. "And there's some bad news."

"Huh? What is it?" Said Treble.

"First things first, PlugMan... he's gone."

"No way. PlugMan?! But... he was so strong, he could just go around the Undernet like it was no big deal! How could he get deleted?"

"He ran out of DarkPower. ShadeMan was serious."

"So, that means we can't bring him back..." Treble looked downcast. "Wait, maybe my power could revive him?"

Falzar shook her head. "It might seem like a universal tool at times, but our power isn't a miracle cure. It simply imposes data from ourselves onto the target."

"Oh..."

"Maybe I should have waited to say that..." Said Arthur.

"No, I had to know. I wish I could have been there for him." Said Treble. "...But I didn't really see him that much. I never got to know him like ArsenalMan and MathMan."

"Yeah. Anyway, in other news there are some other programs that have surfaced, and Eurasia's gone after them, as well as you and the beasts. We need to bring the conflict between Gregar and Falzar to a close soon, or at least find some way to stall for some serious time. Otherwise we'll be divided when they next attack. No pressure."

"No pressure."

"...Well, no sense in wasting time." Said Arthur. "We can't stop to be sad when our time could save someone."

"Right."

Arthur's PET made a funny sound he didn't recognise, a message of some kind. It was from Treble- a sound file? The description just said 'Listen where Falzar can't hear you. Has the system changed?'

* * *

"Where are we going, Falzar?" Said Treble, after nearly an hour's travel. "You look like you've got a plan."

"It's a restaurant." Said Falzar, to the confusion of both Treble and NetOp.

"A restaurant?" Said Arthur. "I didn't know Navis even had restaurants."

"Well, I eat BugFrags, so I guess I never thought to mention it to you!" Said Treble. "But you've seen that they replicated a bunch of different foods for navis."

"...Oh yeah, I remember covering it in school actually. There was a bit of a breakthrough a little while ago with those 'CyberVeggies'."

"Never heard of those." Said Treble. "Besides, I want to try meat not veg. Maybe steak? Yeah, steak!"

"It might taste terrible to you." Warned Arthur. "You know how different you are to a normal navi."

"Aw, don't be a downer! It'll be fun! ...Hold on, why are we going to a restaurant?"

Falzar looked back. "We need to meet someone there. They should make things easier for all of us."

"Wow, they must be pretty special." Said Arthur. "What can they do?"

"They're going to be able to cut your travel time down. And..." Falzar stopped herself, suddenly letting loose a negative feeling.

Treble looked at her worriedly. "Are you okay? Falzar? Flare?"

"I just felt something." Said Falzar. "It was an emotion. Fear. I felt... fear. But only Flare feels fear."

"Why?"

"...Flare. She's awake, but she isn't trying to resist me at all. Why?!"

"Hold on a moment." Said Arthur. "You make it sound like Flare isn't you? Aren't you just a system installed over her?"

"Just?" Said Falzar testily.

"He didn't mean it in a bad way!" Said Treble.

"Uh, anyway... Treble, she seems different to when we had to fight her, right? More mindful. Less aggressive."

 _I can't say what I've heard with her here. Good thing Arthur could listen privately._ "...I guess. But she's definitely not Flare. She's someone else at the moment."

"Mm. I'm not sure why, but she's changed rapidly after only a day with you, and... maybe she was changing even before that, since she let you near."

"I can hear you." Said Falzar.

"Well then... Do you agree?" Said Arthur.

Falzar was silent for a moment, negativity radiating, Then she twisted and stabbed the forming EvilSpirit near her before anything came of it.

"Mayyybe we should leave this topic be." Said Treble. "Let's get to the restaurant."

"Good plan. But I want to just check some things with the experts here. I'll go talk to them if you'll be alright for half an hour, Treble?"

"Yep! Let's go!" Said Treble.

* * *

"So Lan, what are your thoughts?" Said Arthur, a little freaked out to be talking to Lan so easily, but his investment in the situation was overriding it.

"Maybe she's milder because she can't sense Gregar so well when he's here in Scilabs? Or it could have something to do with... have you ever heard of a navi called Iris?"

"I think that we saved her earlier, when the attack happened. Man, a lot happened today." Arthur looked out of the window to see a dark sky, nighttime in progress.

"Oh, um... wrong Iris. Or right? It's a long story." Said Lan. "But Iris is the Navi Falzar used as her body when she was revived. She had the ability to control other programs, so maybe what's left of her is helping? MegaMan, what do you think?"

"I don't know, Lan. There's literally nothing on the net we understand less than Falzar. But maybe it has something to do with Flare... um... not fighting. When I was struggling with the DarkSoul, I only really became powerful and able to use it once I almost totally suppressed it, and it couldn't really fight back."

"DarkSoul?" Said Arthur.

"Imagine Flare right now, but very evil." Said Lan. "Anyway, I'll ask Wily for some more information on Iris, and see if her abilities are helping right now. You should go and ask Gregar, and see if it's Falzar causing this."

"Right. It's a shame that Hub guy isn't around, we could use someone Gregar gets along with well to ask a sensitive question like this..." Said Arthur.

Lan shrugged. "You'll probably meet him again eventually. Be right back!" He dashed out of the room before Arthur could say anything else.

Arthur took a short walk over to Gregar's room. It was getting late, although not terribly so. He opened the door to see Blaze and Burn standing opposite each other. Burn's PET stood out, a generic grey compared to Blaze's thematic red.

"Okay Ember, WideBurn!" Said Blaze.

There was the sound of roaring fires, followed by buster shots and blades against claws.

Burn slotted a couple of chips into his PET. "Full power, Gregar! DrillArm, GutsPunch!"

There were another few sounds of battle, followed by a 'wham', but then Blaze's demeanor shifted.

"Here's our chance!" She said brightly. " **Full synchro, let's go!"** Blaze slotted in a chip. **"AirHockey! CustomSword!"  
**

 _CustomSword? Why would anyone use-_ There was suddenly a flurry of rapid slashing sounds, followed by a bit of silence, then Gregar groaning.

Burn shrugged. "I guess there's just not much we have in common. Besides muscles, ha."

"Hmph. Yeah, no synchro." Said Gregar.

Blaze smiled. "Good job, Ember! We'll have to fight again when you've got someone better suited to operating you, Gregar."

"Damn right. Two losses against the same navi?" Said Gregar disgustedly. But he lightened up a little. "...Still, I haven't fought you at my best yet. Watch out next time."

"Oh, we will. Anyway, you've got a visitor." Said Blaze, stepping out of the way.

Arthur sat down in front of a screen. "Hey Gregar. I... um... I have a few questions."

"Ok. What?"

"It's about Flare and the targeting system. Ever since the system took over, it's become less aggressive. But Flare definitely isn't the one in control right now. But more than that, when I last spoke to her... it seemed like the system was developing into a separate entity to Flare."

"...Weird. The system I fought attacked nonstop, only pausing if Falzar was damaged enough to need to fall back and recover. Are you totally sure Flare's not influencing it?"

"Well, if she is then Falzar's a very, very good actor. Anything else you know that might help? Anything at all?"

"Not really. But if it's let Treble close, then you should keep an eye on him. We're similar, it might target him. And he'll need chips to fight."

"...You're right, I ought to get back to him for now."

* * *

Treble looked at the restaurant. It was a lively place, possibly converted from a NetCafe into somewhere better designed for sticking around in. About a dozen other navis were sat around tables with digital versions of foodstuffs, chatting over this and that. The area background had automatically dimmed a bit with nighttime, and that made the soft glow of the lighting seem like a spotlight on the establishment.

 _A restaurant at night. Hey, this would be a pretty cool date if Flare was here. Flare..._

Treble looked at Falzar, and a wave of sadness washed through him. _Maybe when you're back._ "So, the navi we have to meet is here?"

"Yes. I'll be leaving alone once you've talked to him."

"What?" Treble looked down. "Well... I can't stop you. Flare, you can probably hear me. Are you going to be safe?"

"..." Falzar glared angrily. "Don't rile her up. She can't beat me but she can give me a very hard time."

"I'm not sorry. I really do care about her, and that's one thing I won't be stopped at." Said Treble defiantly. "So Falzar- you stay safe too. If there's a fight, call on me and I'll come to help."

"We've wasted enough time. Come on." Falzar walked into the restaurant, heading straight for the counter. "Tell the manager Flare has come to speak with them."

The navi nodded, and went into a backroom for a few moments. "Okay, come on in."

"Follow me." Said Falzar. Treble obeyed.

They stepped into a room that was far larger than it had any right to be. There was a kitchen-like area taking up most of it, and a large cubicle in the corner next to the door. Falzar marched straight in, Treble in tow. Treble looked around the cubicle. Countless files in storage, probably the restaurant's data. And a neat cyber desk, with a navi sat behind it. He was holding a bowl and a large spoon, happily stirring away at the contents while humming a tune, seemingly oblivious to Falzar.

"Ah, Falzar!" He said. Treble nearly took a step back at his unexpected accent, a reverbrating tone that seemed decidedly upper class. Like some kind of divine entity, but very proper and posh. "Care for a cup of tea? A biscuit? A _chocolate_ biscuit? I've just found a recipie for chocolate! And we all know you could use something to sweeten up your day!" He seemed... kind of silly and upbeat. Treble was reminded of himself on good days.

"This is no time for that." Said Falzar. "I need to register a new user, and... I need a link opened." She seemed to hesitate saying the last part.

"Who is this guy? I kind of like him." Said Treble.

"Let me explain." Said the Navi, stirring away. "I'm NetGaia, better known as Chip. A net-wide system that was almost developed, but scrapped for reasons I do not know. I was found by Alias and re-activated. While many of my functionalities are unfinished, thus unusable, I can create temporary links to anywhere I have a physical connector, and I can perform basic server commands, such as a forced logout. Falzar, is this the user you want to add?"

"Yes. I was hoping to use Flare's access, but it seems you already know she's not in control. Can I still add him?"

"Yes. I see a lot, as a net-montoring system. I know you're not Flare, but I also know that your ally will use my service responsibly." Said NetGaia, suddenly seeming wise rather than silly. "Now, your link?"

"...I need a link to Ethan's computer, if it's empty." Said Falzar. "Both I and Flare want to see Zoano."

"...Very well." Said NetGaia. "But a link to Ethan's computer will not help you. Zoano is currently with Alias. Do you want your destination changed?"

Falzar looked a little uncertain.

Treble placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll come with you! You can trust me."

"You're joking. That's the worst situation I could place myself in! Alias, Ethan AND you? Flare would be struggling for weeks!" Said Falzar.

Arthur sat up. "...I have an idea."

"Speak." Said Falzar.

"What if you volunteered control to Flare? She won't be struggling for control if she has it. And I'm curious about you now. I'm wondering if there really, actually might be a loophole you can slip through. I just feel like I'm missing some vital piece of information..."

Falzar was getting increasingly rattled. "No. It's a leap of faith. If you've got some kind of trap laid then I'll lose my best chance at deleting Gregar-"

She was suddenly silenced, by Treble speaking confidently. "Chip, open the link. I'll go alone and bring Zoano back."

Arthur suddenly had another thought. "Oh, and Falzar, you'd better get to somewhere you won't be a target when you transform. Maybe that Underground place?"

"I will NEVER return there." Said Falzar sharply. "...But I see your reasoning. Link me to the square closest to the abandoned Undernet. Treble, I'll wait for you there. Don't fail me."

Treble glanced back to Arthur, and there was something of a spark between them. _Arthur, is this the right thing to do? Is helping Falzar get full power without a fight really our best option?_

Arthur nodded. _I'm trying my hardest. I think this is the only way._

Treble stepped onto the link, and came out in a small area. A few navis were around. "Hey everyone." He announced.

SheepMan looked up. "..." He scowled, but closed his eyes and cleared his face. "...Is she alright?"

"I think so."

Alias looked over. "Treble, why are you here? We've been trying to find a way to get her in one place long enough to talk to her, but it seems impossible without hurting her..."

"I need Zoano. Arthur has a plan."

"That's a big, big risk." Said Alias. "If Falzar went on a rampage at full power then it would be a disaster."

'Meep!'

"OW!" Treble looked behind him, and Zoano was clamped to the end of his tail. "...Well, didn't expect that. Looks like he wants to go with me."

Alias looked unsure for a second, and then nodded. "Listen. Unless you're absolutely sure I can't, I'm coming with you. I won't try and stop her by force, I don't know if I even can, but I have to try talking to her."

"Okay. Thanks, Alias. Let's go together."

"Good luck." Said SheepMan. "I'll keep Midnight informed, operations are safe with me."

Treble stepped back onto the link. He found himself in his square, Alias at his side.

"When did Ethan set up NetGaia for this place?" Said Arthur. "Well, we'd better get to the abandoned Undernet."

* * *

Falzar saw Treble come into view, holding Zoano. And Alias was with him. The mettaur popped off Treble's tail, and walked forwards.

"...Why?" She said.

"Because I trust Arthur. Because I care about Flare. Because I still have hope that you can change your fate." Said Treble easily. "Unless you're talking about Alias. He wanted to speak with you. I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you, but I'm sure he wouldn't anyway!"

"When I take my power out of this virus, I will regain my original self. I'll seek out Gregar and delete him. You know this."

"I do. But... Arthur wanted me to ask a favor from you."

"...?"

"He just wanted you to sit and think once you're in your true form. Just for a few minutes."

"Think about what?"

"Everything you can." Said Treble.

Falzar nodded. "My mind won't change. Before I do this... I'd like to ask that you leave."

Treble seemed like he was about to say something, but Arthur stepped in. "Falzar. I need to ask a second favor now that I think about it."

"Be quick. I won't be delayed any longer. Especially if I have to talk to him as well after you."

"Be careful not to let any bystanders get hurt once you transform. If they attack you, just fly away and leave them be. It'll make clearing everything up much easier." Said Arthur.

"Strange boy." Said Falzar. "But I suppose it aligns with my goal quite well, to conserve energy for Gregar. Now, begone. I'll speak to Alias alone."

Treble stared for a second, and nearly said something, but held in everything he was about to say, and started walking away. Once he was near the edge of the area, he looked up. "Arthur, I hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I. I hope we don't have to deal with any fights now, it's a bit late."

"...As long as Flare's still in there. But why did we help Falzar? What makes you so sure that'll get Flare back?"

"Because I think that once she's more powerful, her body will hopefully be able to hold both the system and Flare better. Because I realised something. Everyone has tried reasoning with the system, convincing it that it doesn't have to go after Gregar. Apart from Flare herself. She's only been able to fight it. She's our last hope against the system. If she tries to talk it down, and as a pacifist I hope she will, then we can say that we've tried everything. All that's left after that are choices I don't want to make."

"I trust you." Said Treble.

"I won't waste that. We won't let anyone near her."

Alias came walking out. "..." He looked down.

"No luck?" Asked Treble.

"No luck." Confirmed Alias. "...Are you going to protect the area while she transforms?"

"Yes. You?"

"...I should leave, for now." Alias logged out.

* * *

Treble could feel the power. It radiated, a feeling like harsh wind, but thankfully it wasn't so overwhelming as to be anything more than detectable when outside the area. "...She's been there for quite a while." Said Treble.

There was a knock at the door, in the physical world. "Come in." Said Arthur.

Chuad stepped into the room. "Falzar has reached full power. A lot of people on the net can sense it, and they're afraid but not panicking."

"I have Treble guarding the only way in or out of the place she's at right now."

"Good. I have my team ready to intervene if she goes for anywhere, but there's another problem. Something has reacted to her power."

"That sounds bad." Said Arthur. "What is it?"

"We're not sure. Take a look at this scan." Said Chaud, bringing up a screen on his PET. "It's a part of the undernet."

"...Um... I don't know how to read your scans. But I can see those four bright dots in the middle. What do they represent?"

"We don't know, only that they're powerful. What's odd, is they seem to be in the middle of nowhere. There isn't any space for a Navi to exist there. It's just... void."

Arthur studied it closely. "...Go speak to Denny, if he's still here. He knows the undernet well. Or maybe Lan. He's pretty awesome at this from what I know."

"Blaze is already talking to Denny. He folded into her circle of teammates well." Said Chaud. "Anyhow. Don't let Falzar do anything illegal if you can help it. And keep her away from population centres."

"Mass panic, right?"

"Yes. It's times like these I'm glad there's not so much red tape when it comes to cyber matters. If something like this happened in the real world..." Said Chaud. "Now, ProtoMan will be investigating that mysterious signal, but I came to ask you if you'd send your friends as backup as well."

"My friends? Okay, but I'm surprised you'd call on them when you have others?"

"They're all recovering from today's battle. Have them at the entrance in ten minutes."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Another ten minutes later, the power stopped radiating. "...It's done." Said Treble. "She's totally restored to her original self, not a trace of power missing." He took a step forwards.

"Wait." Said Arthur. "...I hate to say this, but you mustn't go in."

"What? Why?"

"This is when they'll talk. This is the one chance Flare has. If you go in... well, I don't think you'll help. If Flare starts fighting rather than reasoning, she'll lose. This is a battle of words, not strength."

Treble looked over in distress, tail curled around one leg and the other foot scratching the floor. "Is this what I put you through? When I get into danger?"

"Pretty nasty feeling, the helplessness. Sorry to hurt you with it, but the alternative is worse."

"...Yeah."

They waited.

Finally, the power lulled completely. "...Has she left?!" Said Treble.

"What? Why would she leave there? Go check, just be careful." Said Arthur.

Treble took a few steps into the area. "...Yes, she really isn't here! Flare, Flare! Does this mean... she lost?"

Arthur slumped. "No..."

"FLAAAARE?!" Shouted Treble. No reply.

"I'll go get a scan, and see where she is." Said Arthur. "This is _my_ fault. If you're not needed here though, you should come with me. Treble, back." Treble reappeared in his PET. Arthur set off at a quick walk, over to Denny's room, bursting in. "Denny I need a scan."

Denny sat up. "Already done. She's in central area, hidden away. Observing, by the looks of things. Trying to find Gregar."

Arthur sighed in relief. "Nobody's in danger?"

"Not even her. She's just playing things logically and calmly." Confirmed Denny. "But it's clear the system is still in control."

Treble made a short whining sound. "No way... but we tried everything."

Denny just shrugged. "You can't always win. For now, you two should just sleep. While she's not threatening anyone, then you HAVE to rest. Superior's orders."

"I'm not an official."

"You technically are, since Eurasia." Said Denny. "And as someone that seriously outranks you, but also as your friend and someone that wants you to succeed, I'm telling you now: Go home, and get some sleep while you can."

"...Will do. Look after yourself, Denny."

Arthur stepped out of the room and looked at Treble mournfully. "I'm so sorry."

Treble just didn't speak for a while. As Arthur stepped outside the doors into the night air he finally replied. "...Don't be. Don't be sorry for trying so hard to help, Arthur."

* * *

Arthur sat up the next morning, shaking off his sleepiness quickly. "I feel rested. Let's get down to business." He got out of his bed, changing quickly.

Treble seemed surprised. "You don't normally get up so fast."

"William and Joe have probably got a lot of the investigating done by now." Said Arthur. "But we should go and help them finish. It frees up resources for when we need them."

"That's kind of cold, viewing your own friends as resources."

"If it saves them paying a greater price, then I'll be cold for a moment. Cruel to be kind, or something like that." Said Arthur. "They're only resources when I'm strategizing. When we're executing that strategy, or when the danger's passed, or when they need me? They're friends."

"Cool speech. You're good with words." Said Treble.

"I try. Can you message them to meet me down at the park? The sun's already out."

"Sure thing!"

The day was perfect. Not blazing sun, the kind that made you look for shade, or heat that would force you to drink twice as much water. Lighting sun that you could happily look around in. Warm light, not hot light. Arthur sat down on a bench in the park, across from a jack-in port on a pillar.

"Treble, hunt. The others ought to be here soon. Want to find a virus to fight?"

"Ok! I think there are a few over here." Treble ran towards a dead end, and saw a Champy floating about. "Take this!" He jumped forwards, slipping to the side of the punch easily and deleting with one swipe. Treble looked at his hand in satisfaction. "Sometimes I forget I'm pretty powerful!"

"I guess when your standard enemies have been Gregar and Bass, it's hard to get a big head. Maybe we ought to find one that's a bit tougher?"

"Hmm, but where?"

"Not sure, really. Oh, here comes William. Never mind."

William came over with a grave face. "Arthur, it's bad out there. MathMan and ProtoMan are both struggling."

"Oh no. Wait, what against?"

"Evil spirits. They seem to have made a resurgence, but we can't tell where they're coming from."

"It's not Falzar, is it?"

"No, it's not. They have Gregar's signature. But the thing is, he's currently accounted for."

"...that's weird. Well, we'd better get down there and contain them." Said Arthur.

"Yes. Let's go. ArsenalMan, to attention!"

* * *

Treble looked around carefully. "I sense them. The EvilSpirits. Chip, give me a link to the closest point."

"Chip? Isn't that the one Gregar calls on to make links?" Said ArsenalMan. A shining white tile appeared, answering that question.

"Come on, this should save us some time!" Said Treble, entering the link. He came out in a square near the Undernet's entrance, and took off at a run. In very little time, he was picking his way through the Undernet with ArsenalMan at his back, the pair easily destroying any viruses that came too close.

"They're holding the spirits back at a path over here. I had to fall back to recover after one got a lucky shot." Said ArsenalMan.

"We should get Ethan's friends over here." Said Arthur. "You need numbers to deal with EvilSpirits effectively."

"Give me my advance, I'll claw them up while you ring him." Said Treble.

"ElementBreath, BugCharge, VariableSword. Good plan. Make sure you don't go too far forward or you'll get surrounded." Said Arthur, starting to dial Ethan. After a few seconds, Ethan picked up. "Arthur? Any word on Falzar? It's like she's disappeared."

"She's apparently hiding, observing until Gregar shows up. Not perfect, but it gives us a second to breathe. Anyway, I need a hand."

"Ok? If you're sure we can afford not to be looking for Flare."

"I'm sure. EvilSpirits have appeared in the Undernet. But they've got Gregar's signature, which should be impossible. We'd like you to just help clear them out. Until we work out what's going on."

"Yeah, got it. Alias'll be there in a moment."

"Thanks." Arthur hung up. "...Maybe we should get Blaze, too?"

"NO TIME! ARTHUR, MATHMAN'S IN TROUBLE!" Said Treble.

Arthur's eyes snapped back to the containment effort. MathMan seemed to have taken a bad hit just before Treble turned up, but a few spirits had attacked and now he was struggling, weakened and outnumbered. Treble batted away two, but doing so let another one join the fight.

MathMan raised his sword to parry an attack, and sunk to one knee as his energy started to run out. "Help." He said shortly, swinging his blade to one side for space. A smart bomb cleared two more spirits, and then a red flash passed, eliminating the last one on MathMan. "...ProtoMan." MathMan smiled.

"Fall back, MathMan." Said ProtoMan.

"Right..." MathMan looked like he was about to log out, when suddenly he lunged forwards, pushing ProtoMan to the side. His unarmed hand took the launched projectile, as Treble shifted himself to block the rest.

"SINCE WHEN COULD THEY ATTACK AT RANGE?!" Said Treble.

MathMan fell down. "..."

ProtoMan caught him. "No! He's breaking apart! I can't stabilize this with basic support!"

 _No! I can't lose him!_ And Treble had a moment of realisation. He didn't have to. "STAND BACK PROTOMAN!"

ProtoMan took a step away. Arthur looked in dismay. "Treble, can you do something?"

"HERE GOES!" And Treble made another command to his soul. _Save him._ Involuntarily, Treble took a deep breath, and white flames surged out of his mouth, washing over MathMan. After a mere moment, the breath ended. MathMan was still functioning, just.

"Auuugh... the... the bugs..." Said MathMan.

"LOG OUT! THAT CODE'S NOT GOING TO HELP YOU FOR LONG!" Urged Treble. There was a flash as MathMan disappeared.

"What did you do?" Said Arthur.

"I CAUSED BUGS EVERYWHERE HIS DATA WAS MISSING. THE ATTACK'S CONTINUOUS DAMAGE WOULD HAVE GONE THROUGH THEM BEFORE REACHING HIS CORE CODE. BUT HE MIGHT BE DAMAGED."

"That's a price worth paying. Let's just get rid of these spirits." Said Arthur.

Treble turned a little, realising he'd effectively plugged them in with his backside. "EASIER SAID THAN DONE. THIS MIGHT BE TIME FOR VANISHING WOLRD. AS SOON AS I MOVE WE'LL BE SWARMED."

Arthur frowned. "ProtoMan's exhausted. MathMan's out of action. ArsenalMan can handle any that slip past you, but the ranged attacks will tear him apart if he climbs you."

"We're here to help!" Called a voice.

"I won't let you stand alone!" Called another.

"Alias? And was that voice Hub?" Said Arthur. "Just who we need! I wonder who Hub's navi is- Wait, that's MegaMan! Even better!"

Alias ran up. "Wow, you guys are struggling against EvilSpirits? I'm ready to give them a HyperBurst- or two!"

MegaMan looked forward. "Lan, I feel like something's coming. It's really powerful, and I don't recognize it!"

"WHAT? IF YOU CAN JUST HOLD THEM OFF ME FOR A FEW SECONDS, I'LL CLEAR THEM OUT! ARE YOU READY?"

MegaMan shimmered for a second, and then his suit turned black, his helmet growing a pair of gold fins. "Open up with the HyperBurst. BusterRake will finish them."

"Gotcha!" Said Alias, pointing the gun forward. "Treble, whenever you're ready!"

"ARTHUR, GET THE ATTACK LOADED!"

Arthur slotted in the three Spreaders. "Careful you don't hit your allies."

Treble leapt over Alias, swinging around to face the EvilSpirits. A HyperBurst devastated their ranks, and MegaMan's buster rake was almost as effective as Bass'. VanishingWorld began to charge. "GET OUT THE WAY!"

Alias performed a neat combat roll, and fired his recalled HyperBurst. MegaMan made some kind of super jump upwards, and kept casting buster rake. There was a roar and a white light as VanishingWorld fired, straight down the narrow path.

Arthur looked. "I think that got most of them!"

Treble was still standing, mouth hanging a little open. "WHEW..."

MegaMan walked forwards, dropping BassCross. "I still sense that powerful being. Alias, ProtoMan, what about you?"

ProtoMan looked down the cleared pathway. "No, but I'm low on power now."

Alias nodded. "Ethan, any idea what it could be? It feels almost familiar."

Ethan's voice seemed slightly static over the link. "As long as it's not Orochi."

"Nah. It seems more like..." Alias frowned, and then jumped as he realised what he sensed. "Everyone, get ready to fight! G-carving, activate!" A set of familiar green armor encased him, the mouth open wide to show Alias' face.

MegaMan looked outwards. "SearchCross." He took on an appearance similar to a sniper. "...I can see something coming. It's big."

ProtoMan stepped forwards. "I recognise that power. It's the WuHighMax."

Alias shook his head. "No, I sensed the DeathRider."

"I SMELL THE BEHOLDEREYE."

"There are four signatures." Said MegaMan. "But they're scrambled. And I feel like Gregar's stirring inside me."

There was a rumbling as something came into view. "What! What is THAT?!" Yelled Alias. It was a guarantee you wouldn't sleep, at least. A giant eyeball, wreathed in coils of watery blobs and locked in place by four claws. There was a crown of sorts on top, that might mave been a WuNote once. Its half-melted eyes still burned with hatred. Two giant wheels were rolling along the floor, leaving molten panels in their wake. The whole thing looked like several already disturbing plastic toys had been held together and then melted a bit.

"WE'LL TAKE IT ON!"

Arthur nodded. "Everyone, stay behind Treble. He can defend you."

"Execute!" Said MegaMan.

The enemy's name was scrambled, and it attacked without warning, crashing into Treble's defences wildly. MegaMan shot at the head with pinpoint accuracy, the search scope doing high damage, but failing to deter the virus at all.

Arthur sent chips. "AirHockey, Thunder. Convert weapons!"

Treble went on the offensive with a drill, Junk Flyer bombarding into the monstrous virus. This gave Alias the chance he hoped for, and he dashed forward, holding an empowered advance at the ready.

"Try this on for size, Eclipse Cannon!" Yelled Alias, as he activated his attack. The Red Sun and Blue Moon satellites appeared, but instead of firing immediately a Navi appeared behind each one. Arthur recognised the one behind the Blue Moon as Midnight, but the other was unfamiliar. There two satellites fired, the stream of rocks and beam of light mixing in a Y shape, blasting forwards with harsh purple power. But as the attack ended, the virus still seemed relatively okay, to everyone's shock.

Time almost seemed to stop for Treble as he saw the virus blast Alias with an eye beam, and Alias helplessly was forced to the ground. Treble stood over him before the beam could delete, but Alias had almost been deleted from one blow, his G-carving failing.

MegaMan's cross changed to a shining golden one with a red scarf. "Hey ugly! This way!" He yelled, before shooting a GunDelSol straight into the eye. A chain of watery blobs lashed out, but MegaMan dodged to continue firing. It tried to strike again, and he slipped in, slashing with a LongBlade. Then the virus seemed to glare, and MegaMan doubled over.

"What's wrong with him?!" Said Arthur.

Treble cleaved at the virus, and MegaMan seemed to stop suffering. "IT'S TRYING TO TAKE GREGAR'S POWER! GET HIM OUT, NOW!"

ProtoMan tried to duel the virus, but one of the tires screeched forward and slammed him, and he went down, already weakened. It was up to Treble.

But Treble wasn't winning. Not because he was too weak- but if he did anything but try and protect Alias and ProtoMan, they'd be deleted. MegaMan was consumed with his struggle against Gregar's power, barely able to fight.

"Come on... FireBurn, AquaNeedle, CornShot in. We have to win this..." Said Arthur tensely.

Treble tried warding the virus back with breath, but elemental damage didn't seem to be that effective. His health was falling, and of not for Junk Flyer he'd have been overwhelmed by attack spam a long time ago. He was pinned, unable to attack properly or retreat without getting his allies, his friends deleted. Another laser hit him straight in the mouth. "...I NEED TO GET IT AWAY FROM THEM!"

And then, there was a screech. A colossal, doombringing screech from behind Treble.

A few long, thin feathers shot into the virus, each impaling it, and then there was a blast of air as Falzar crashed into the horror talons first, in her original form.

"DELETE!" She shrieked, and a scalding blast of wind flowed out of her mouth, the virus losing momentum and trundling back a little. Falzar followed up with a tremendous surge of air from her wings, and then a glowing red barrage of energy attacks shaped like phoenixes all crashed into the virus. It didn't seem deterred, but then Treble struck with his claws, opening it up for Falzar to use another hurricane breath on it. There was a tremendous crackling sound as the winds bored into the virus, and then it disappeared in a flash.

Falzar shouted in rage. "GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T RUN!" But just before she kicked away from the ground, she hesitated. Then she turned. "...BUT YOU CAN WAIT."

Treble suddenly realised. There was something familiar about that tone of voice, something he hadn't heard for days. "FLARE?"

Falzar bowed her head a little. "KIND OF. SORRY FOR ALL THE TROUBLE. BUT IS ALIAS OKAY? IS ETHAN, GREGAR, SHEEPMAN- ARE THEY ALL OKAY?"

"FLARE, IT IS YOU!"

Alias crawled out, slightly bugged and badly damaged, but standing and happy. "You did it!"

Falzar tilted her head. "MAYBE NOT HOW YOU'D HOPE. CAN I COME BACK, FOR NOW? I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY..."

"Flare, you're one of my best friends. You never need to ask to come with me." Said Alias. "Let's go home."

Falzar started to shrink, forming back into her navi shape. She looked to the sky. "Log me out. Finally, after all this time... Treble, come to our computer. I want to be with you, too. Even if we can't hang around in the Undernet."

"FLARE... I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE BACK..."

"I'll explain everything when we're safe. Love you, Treble." Flare logged out.

Treble would possibly have sat there for a good ten minutes comprehending those last three words if not for Arthur saying everyone else had logged out, it was time to go.

 **Author's notes: So, at last Flare is sort of back! Expect to learn about what she's been going through next chapter.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JaneValentine007:_ Aw, I'm just glad to know you're so supportive, internet or not. On the matter of starting your BN, I'd say that you definitely could, as long as you don't forget your plans for SF. **


	31. Chapter 31: Gregar

Treble re-entered the net and immediately shouted "Chip, I need a link to Alias's computer!" A panel glowed white in front of him, and he stepped on.

William looked to Arthur. "Should we come too?"

"Of course. I want to know how Flare finally regained control..." Arthur lowered his voice. "And to be safe, in case she's not fully in control."

"ArsenalMan, to attention."

ArsenalMan followed Treble along the link.

* * *

They stepped out into the common area of Ethan's computer. Flare was sitting on the couch next to the repair program, upright and alert. Alias and SheepMan were standing around.

"Treble, you're here!" Said Flare. "I've been waiting. All we need now is Gregar."

SheepMan cleared his throat. "Oh, that's who you were waiting for? I'm sorry, but he's not available right now. I can send a message if you wish."

"SheepMan. Where _exactly_ is Gregar?" Flare's voice suddenly became deadly serious.

"He's currently in detention at Scilabs. While we were able to legally clear him of any charges due to exceptional circumstances, given the magnitude of damage he could cause if he wanted, they're holding him in detention for two weeks. Arthur and Treble have been visiting, so we know he's been treated well."

Flare looked down. "I need to get to Scilabs immediately. Does NetGaia cover there? ...No? Alright." She got up, and started walking.

"Wait, what's going on? I know you miss him, but you're acting like he's in danger!" Said Treble.

Flare stopped. "I should explain..." She said quietly. "Um... You guys won't be mad, right? It was the only way."

"Of course we won't be mad." Said Alias. "What's wrong? Share your problems."

"I was able to regain control of myself temporarily by making a deal." Said Flare. "The system would never be able to properly fight Gregar with me holding it back, but I'd be deleted over and over, never likely to control anything again. The only way we could find to solve this problem was a deal. The system wanted to fight Gregar, with both of us at our full, original power. If Gregar wins, then the system agreed to leave me be unless I need it. But... if the system wins..."

"...It wants to delete him, right?" Said Alias.

"...yes. I'm sorry, I should have thought more about how he would feel-"

"No, you made the right choice." Said Alias. "Gregar will tell you that as well. Any of us would fight for you. Heck, we all already have."

"Yep. So... are there other rules for this fight? If it's your only chance, I'm gonna be careful with it. I'll do everything I can to help you win. Um, lose?" Said Treble. "You know."

Flare nodded. "No outside help during the fight, not even NetOps. We agreed that we'll both have some chips loaded before the fight starts, as many as we can hold. And no breaks or pauses until it's over."

"...Right. But Gregar's not at full power right now." Said Treble. "He wanted to earn it back, by defeating MegaMan. I don't know if that's even possible. He couldn't do that at full power. Neither could I."

Flare nodded. "Well... I have control until we're ready to fight. Maybe I can help him beat MegaMan. I know I could try and cheat by leaving him as he is, so he never has full power and we never have to fight, but... even if the system wouldn't let me, I don't think either of us really have it in us to cheat."

"Okay. I- oh hold on, Email..." Said Treble. The PET beeped.

Arthur opened it. "From Chaud... 'We're calling an emergency meeting over the bizarre virus you encountered, come to Scilabs ASAP. It's alive and growing stronger. If possible, get the operator of the beasts to come to Scilabs as well. Extra firepower aside, we need the information they can offer. Please don't mention my name to them, however. There's a lot of bad blood between us and it might damage your chances.' Did you guys hear all that?"

Ethan's voice played. "Bad blood? Pfft. I'm not leaving that virus loose for one second longer than we have to. And I'd have to go to Scilabs anyway to fight MegaMan. I'll get the next train. Arthur, can you explain everything to him with Flare's deal?"

"Can do. Oh, don't forget to bring Gregar's PET. I'll get going now. Treble, back." Said Arthur. He turned to William. "Okay, you heard all that, but I need to give you a task."

"Go on."

"Go and make sure Joe and MathMan are okay. I don't know how everything's going to pan out with this fight, but I need to know if they'll be okay to fight again anytime soon or if they were badly damaged when that attack hit."

"Right away. The next train will be pretty soon, you'd better run." Said William. "Call me for anything you need. This... honestly, it's terrifying, but I like the feeling of having all these people I can count on. Good luck. Go."

Arthur jumped up. "Thanks, bye." he started running for the station.

* * *

Arthur got off the train and sat on a bench at the station. Treble piped up. "Wait, why are we stopped? Doesn't Scilabs need us?"

"I'd bet Ethan hasn't been here before. I don't want him getting lost. Can you access the timetables, see when he'll arrive?"

"...The next train from Eastfall is only a minute away. Kind of weird they don't share a line, actually."

There was a whoosh, as a train stopped. First out was Ethan, gelled hair sticking out from the crowd. Arthur waved him down. "Ethan! This way!"

Ethan walked over. "You waited for me?"

"I figured you hadn't been here before. Let's go, no matter what we need to be at Scilabs right now." Said Arthur. "Hopefully the system's duel can wait for one meeting, since that virus seems kind of urgent."

"Yeah." Ethan frowned. "Let's roll."

The journey was short, even on foot. As they came up to the building, Ethan gave a low whistle. "Nice place. Always wanted to see it."

"It's nice, but we can't waste a second while there's danger. It could make all the difference."

"True." They jogged up the stairs.

They stepped into the lobby and the receptionist immediately said "Red door." Arthur went in to see a large table had been set up, with a few people around it. Chaud, Lan, Yuichiro, Burn, and Famous.

"My worry is that MegaMan can't feas-" Chaud stopped. "Just in time. Arthur, and I presume Ethan?"

"Yes. How can we help?" Said Arthur.

Chaud pulled up a few scans. "That virus' power has grown greatly in only half an hour. We need a plan to take it down, and soon. The rate it's growing has slowed down, but another jump like that and we'll have a crisis on our hands."

"...I take it MegaMan's not an option?" Said Arthur.

"No. If it can paralyse him at will then there's simply nothing he can do. I'd send a team of other navis if I could, but unfortunately it's staying put inside that area that appears to be void. It's so annoying. A massive proven threat, but we're being forced to let ot take the fight to us, and not the other way round." Said Chaud. "If either of you have anything to contribute, say it now."

"I can probably hunt it down." Said Falzar.

Ethan took out the PET, an air of fear around him. "...Do you know where we are?"

"Yes. Hello Chaud. I should thank you for the opportunity you've given me." Said Falzar.

Chaud grimaced. "Opportunity?"

"I should explain." Said Arthur. "Flare and the system made a deal with each other. They'll fight Gregar at his full power. If he wins, the system will give up. If she wins, she wants Gregar deleted."

"...That's an incredibly large risk. Does she know Gregar's not at full power?" Said Chaud.

Falzar's eyes glowed, going from yellow to blue. "...I'm sorry. But I have faith in my brother. If he can beat MegaMan, then he can hopefully beat me." Said Flare.

Lan nodded. "Actually, him not taking back his power without earning it is pretty smart!"

"Huh?" Said Burn. "...Wait! I get it. It makes sure he doesn't rush in with underdeveloped skills as soon as he has full power. Lan, you should go fight him now. Give him everything you've got- Make sure he's ready for Falzar."

"Will do. Ethan, Arthur will show you where he is. I'll just go get my chips." Lan stood and walked off.

"This still leaves the matter of that virus." Said Chaud. "What can we do?"

"First things first, we should try and work out where it's gone." Said Famous. "Then we can be ready to intercept it."

Burn folded his arms. "I'll get to it. Arthur, maybe you should work with our team? We've been down a member ever since PlugMan ran dry."

"Sure thing. But I want to try and help Gregar win first." Said Arthur. "In fact, time's a bit short. Can I go now? You can tell me any new plans later."

"Fair enough."

* * *

"Gregar!" Called Ethan. "We've got some explaining to do!"

"Ethan? Didn't expect you." Said Gregar. "What's up?"

"We've got some battles to win. Flare's managed to make a deal with the targeting system."

"How?"

"It developed sentience." Said Ethan. "Still wants you dead, but it made a deal with Flare: Fight it and win, with both of you at full power and no outside help, and it'll stop controlling Flare until she needs to call on it. But the problem is, you're not at full power."

"So, we're going up against MegaMan?"

"Yeah. In a few minutes. Do you have a plan?"

"You can't plan to fight MegaMan. His best normal skill is his ability to adapt." Said Gregar. "But I've practiced as much as possible to counter him. Maybe I can win."

The door flew open, to everyone's surprise. "Say hello to Blaze Kazuhaya! Ace netbattler! Operator of Ember! And here to help! Lan filled me in." She skipped up to Ethan excitedly. "You're Ethan, right? Please, tell me about the cybeasts! How did you make friends with them? Is it the hair gel?"

Ethan scooted back. "Whoa there. Personal space?"

Ember could be heard laughing. "Good to meet you too. Now I can finally have a fair fight with Gregar! And Blaze, maybe let the guy breathe?"

Blaze took a step away. "So, what can I do for you two? I know you're going into a big fight, but I don't know who you'll be against!"

"We're about to challenge MegaMan." Said Ethan.

"Anything you've got that might help us?" Said Arthur.

Blaze shuffled in her pocket. "Actually... yep! Take this. I'm pretty sure you'll need all the help you can get to beat MegaMan in a netbattle. But I'll need it back afterwards! Ooh, I can watch this fight, right?"

"This is..." Ethan held the chip gingerly. Recover300. "I've never seen a recover chip THIS powerful..."

"They're kind of rare. It might not be enough to beat him if he uses Hub. Bat, though." Admitted Blaze. "Anyway, what are you fighting him for? Fun? Glory?"

"I think that Hub. Bat is for emergencies, and we have one on the horizon. It might be best if you just focus on beating normal MegaMan for now." Said Arthur. "And seriously, he'll easily destroy anything short of a god using that form. They're fighting to check if Gregar is strong enough to face Falzar."

"I'll still fight him." Said Gregar. "Oh, I need summon type chips for when I fight as Colonel, so I can passively summon his soldiers. And I'll try using our combo with SuperVulcan."

Ethan nodded. "Good plan, but we can't afford to miss." Blaze seemed to have several questions, but couldn't quite voice them over the confusion caused by the casual 'Just fighting the strongest navi ever as a warm-up' comment.

"I know. And we'll use the BlackBarrier, but only after he's used his NorthWind to shut down my aura." Said Gregar. "As long as I don't get too aggressive, then that should let me outlast him. At least, that's what Colonel thinks. If he doesn't use NorthWind and I get him damaged though, use CrossDivide."

"Don't worry." Said Ethan.

"One last thing. NaviCust." Said Gregar. "What do we have? I normally take Skata so I can get to fights, but there's no point now."

"UnderShirt, FolderPack1, Custom1, Shield and a bunch of passive boosters."

"Uh... Try and install Shield and Undershirt. I don't have much space in there." Gregar said. "...Well, I think that's everything I need to say. I've been training to deal with his crosses, at least the ones I know about."

"...One thing." Said Arthur. He opened his pack, and shuffled through it. "Maybe this can help you?" He took out a chip. BugCurse. "MegaMan isn't immune, as far as I know. And if you're going to play defensively then this will get some serious value."

Ethan inspected the chip. "I haven't seen this before... Gregar, ever heard of BugCurse? It looks useful."

"I think I know it. It just installs a couple of bugs into the nearest enemy. Useful." Said Gregar. "I think MegaMan can wipe them out by going into Hub mode, probably to protect Lan, but normal Mega will have to use a BugFix."

"Then I'll set up your NaviCust now." Said Ethan. "Gregar, jack out." Gregar appeared in his PET, holding the music box. He placed it in storage, and then sat down, eyes dimming. A screen opened for NaviCust. Ethan took out Skata, and placed it on the sidebar, before taking the Shield program. "Whew, it fits. No space for UnderShirt though..."

Blaze smiled. "Pass him here for a moment!" She said brightly. "I can help."

Ethan looked at her uncertainly. "That's... a pretty big leap of trust. He's not conscious right now, I shouldn't let him out of my hands..."

Arthur shrugged. "I can vouch for her."

Ethan was still for a few seconds. "...okay." He carefully passed Blaze the PET.

Blaze took her own PET, and pointed it at Gregar's. "Ember, you've still got the compression program, right?"

"Right here." Said Ember. "I'll run it on the UnderShirt now... done."

Blaze passed back the PET. "There you go!"

Ethan's eyes lit up. The UnderShirt's size had halved. "How did you-"

"Trade secret." Said Blaze with a smile. "That can be done for most NaviCust programs, but anything apart from UnderShirt and AutoRun takes ages."

"Well, it's an extra NaviCust part. That's a pretty big deal." Said Ethan, waking Gregar. "How do you feel?"

"Feeling normal. I've got the option for Shield." Said Gregar. "I guess we just have to wait for Lan now. I'll start preparing Colonel's form."

"Okay. Arthur, can you hold onto Flare and Alias for the fight? I'll need to focus. I'm not a master of the technique yet, but it's the only way I can hope to have enough synchro to beat them." Said Ethan, holding out the PETs.

"Of course. We'll all be rooting for you. Just remember you and Lan are on the same side now, okay?" Arthur took the PETs and sat with them facing a screen.

"I wouldn't forget." Said Ethan. "Betrayal isn't something I ever want to be a part of." He looked over to Gregar. "You're surprisingly calm about this fight." He commented.

Gregar was sitting crosslegged, hands in his lap and eyes shut. His ear flicked. "What do you mean by that?"

Everyone stared at him. "You're kidding, right? Most of the net would flee in terror if someone shouted your name. Your rage is literally legendary." Said Flare.

Gregar chuckled. "This coming from the birdie berserker."

"Hey, I told you not to call me that." Huffed Flare, smiling.

"Don't worry, Flare. I can beat him, this time around." Reassured Gregar.

"Last time you fought MegaMan he deleted you. Don't get cocky." Said Alias.

"Last time, I was weak after being imprisoned, and Flare was getting deleted next to me. Now we're on equal footing." Said Gregar.

"Okay. But remember! You owe me and Midnight a match after this. We really want to fight you at your strongest. I'd fist bump if I was in there with you, so... Boop?"

"Boop." Replied Gregar lightheartedly.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Added Treble. "It's time we finally found out which of us is stronger!"

"Ha, well I know you won't be an easy win." Said Gregar. "But you're going down." He said in a friendly tone.

"Good luck!"

* * *

Lan came into the room a few minutes later. Ethan looked to him approvingly. "Hey Lan. Good luck."

"Thanks! ...Gregar, are you sure you're ready to fight us? We're not going to hold back."

"Yes. I'm ready." Said Gregar. "Bring it on, Hikari." He placed some special weight on the word Hikari. As if it had more than one meaning.

"Jack in, MegaMan! Execute!" Said Lan.

MegaMan appeared in front of Gregar. "You're sure I shouldn't hold back?"

"You have part of my soul. You know how I feel better than most. Lan probably does too _,_ thanks to your bond." Said Gregar. "Now, no more words! Let's do this!"

MegaMan nodded once, in perfect timing with Lan.

"Battle routine, set!"

"Gregar, it's time to ride!"

"Execute!"

"A-WOOOooo!"

Lan fed in a slew of chips. "GutsCross, RockCube, VoodooDoll, ElecManSP battlechips in, download!"

MegaMan and Gregar both shimmered for a second, taking on different forms. MegaMan tried to strike first with a giant yellow fist, but then was parried unexpectedly by an orange saber.

"Colonel?!" Said MegaMan, trying to summon the RockCube quickly.

A soldier burst out, turning the attack against him, but MegaMan was too fast, and dodged the spray of bullets. Gregar dashed to the side, harrying him with buster fire so Ethan could get some chips in. Arthur noticed something had changed around Ethan. He was giving off... no feeling at all. He was just staring with focus.

"BugCurse, RockCube, AuraHead." Said Ethan, voice null of emotion, yet somehow conveying fierce willpower.

Gregar raised a hand, and purple fire blazed. Unlike the useless attempt Treble had made against Ember with the chip, this time MegaMan ignited too, and for a second stumbled. He still took a firm stance and pitched the VoodooDoll, before running forwards and punching with a destructive fist. Colonel's saber flashed a few times, most arcs barely missing, as another RockCube exploded into a soldier and the AuraHead actually hit.

MegaMan fired with the GutsMachineGun, and Gregar made a leap, cape billowing. "Call that a buster?!" Gregar rained down fire from his, but the pellets dinged off MegaMan harmlessly. Gregar landed with a slash for some damage, and just managed to prevent a GutsPunch from slamming him. For a moment they locked weapons with each other, pushing with all their might. Gregar just managed to shove MegaMan back a little, and tried to perform a ScreenDivide.

But then a ghostly copy of ElecMan appeared, and there was a crack of lightning. Gregar flinched as he was blasted with electrical power, and then as he regained his footing the VoodooDoll's curse struck, effectively doubling the damage. Colonel's form was beginning to flicker, already heavily damaged.

"RollCross! BugFix, SeaSeed, AssassinSword, TankCannon3 RollSP, battlechips in, download!" Said Lan.

Gregar made a precise, quick lunge past MegaMan with Colonel's saber, scoring a hit, but suddenly MegaMan's armor changed to pink, with an X-shaped halo. More annoyingly, his bugs disappeared. And then Gregar found himself wading through water, not quite able to dodge. MegaMan fired a RollArrow, and as Gregar struggled to move through the water MegaMan swung the AssassinSword, and the air was ripped around Gregar just as the arrow hit. There was a blinding flash as Colonel disappeared, and Gregar seized that tiny advantage, breaking free of his watery prison and charging with a vengeance. He crackled with electricity for a second, then it cloaked his whole body and he blitzed forward, slamming into MegaMan's gut and bouncing off, landing on all fours before the TankCannon blasted him in the face, forcing Gregar to take a step back from the power.

"FireHit3, triple dowload. FlameHook." Said Ethan. "You can adapt." He added, with conviction.

Gregar roared, striking hard and fast with his claws. The FlameHook went off like a rocket, but then with impeccable timing MegaMan raised a shield, breaking out and driving another RollArrow into Gregar. One swipe just barely missed his face, before another caught his arm and knocked him back. But then a copy of Roll appeared, and lashed Gregar quickly. MegaMan leapt to his feet, wounds wiped away. Gregar pelted him with his buster, and MegaMan responded in kind, forcing Gregar to put up the shield for a moment of cover.

"AirSpin3, Attack +10, Tornado, battlechips in, download!"

MegaMan slid a disc towards Gregar, and Gregar tried to run from it before it started blasting out a hurricane. If not for his natural SuperArmor letting him slip out he'd have been torn apart when MegaMan hit it with the tornado. But the moment MegaMan was vulnerable, putting away the tornado's fan Gregar fired a TailArrow, and this time MegaMan didn't get his shield up in time. MegaMan tried to shoot with his buster and there was a short click. Bugged, and his BugFix was already used. Gregar closed the gap, flaring up his aura as defence.

"This is your chance. Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade. LifeSword. MidnightEX." Said Ethan. "...I'm nearly in full focus."

Gregar was at the advantage in melee, his claws flashing this way and that and finally doing some damage to MegaMan. But even now MegaMan was dodging like a psychic. Gregar let loose the LifeSword, and time almost slowed down as MegaMan dodged by making a leap forwards, punching Gregar right in the mouth. Gregar spat fire in retailation, and MegaMan jumped high in the air. "Now, Lan!"

"BassCross! AreaSteal, Reflector3, MetalGel, Meteors battlechips in!"

MegaMan's armor took on the sleek black-gold tones of Bass, and MegaMan stayed airborne, letting loose a weakened buster rake. TailArrow's buster bug probably saved the fight there and then. Gregar was the one in trouble now, not quite able to hit with his buster and having to dance around the hail of fire. MegaMan threw a pair of Hell'sRollings, and Gregar dived to the side to dodge, and then had a chilling moment when MegaMan warped behind him, and delivered a powerful kick. Gregar tried to turn and attack and the Reflector punished, the blast stunning Gregar in surprise. MegaMan was forced to move back a little as a swipe from a white scythe just missed him, but then caught him on the return trip. Midnight's copy disappeared, having given Gregar just a little more hope.

But then MegaMan twisted in, throwing another Hell'sRolling while gel rained from above, ponning Gregar to one spot. The Meteors appeared from the sky, and thundered down in an unavoidable barrage, engulfing Gregar in fire. MegaMan landed, dropping his BassCross while looking at the destruction.

Ethan said something. "My mind is clear. I'm fully focused. Ready? **I won't lose.** "

The flames died down to reveal Gregar, face down but already picking himself up. " **I _won't_ lose!**" He said, in time with Ethan. His stance almost seemed to spring back to form, renewed.

Ethan fed in chips. " **Geddon2, SummonBlack1, 2, 3. Program advance, EternalNightmare."**

MegaMan saw him getting up. "Lan, he's still coming somehow!"

Gregar dashed forwards, his aura protecting him. And the ground around him shattered to pieces, trapping them each in uncomfortably tiny areas. Then the background below went black, swirling and whirling like a tank of oil was poured into a whirlpool. Dozens of Nightmare viruses rose out of the pool, brandishing swords, and they floated forwards, slashing at MegaMan. He dodged this way and that, but still a few of the jagged knives found their mark, before the floor panels regenerated more quickly than they should have. Gregar was firing his buster all the while, but MegaMan was still starting tough. The floor brimmed with malice, threatening to unleash another tide of Nightmares if it was broken again. Gregar lunged, aura forming a giant maw.

"ColonelCross! NorthWind, VariableSword, Symphony, Timpani!" Said Lan, chips flying.

Gregar suddenly swore he could hear a voice in his head saying 'Irony at it's finest.'.

MegaMan parried with his new saber, and the wind blew simultaneously, stripping away Gregar's aura defence. He swung hard, claws sparking against the blade and then again fast as a blink, but MegaMan was still about able to keep himself safe. He tried cutting, and finally Gregar vaulted up, performing a devastating aerial slash down across MegaMan, who fell back. He swung the VariableSword and it hit Gregar across the arm, as the pair of summons appeared and started to play. Gregar drilled away at one with his buster, and the other exploded into a soldier that Gregar skidded past, going straight for MegaMan.

" **DrillArm, Recover300. Dash, FastGuage, FullCustom. Program advance, Accelerate."**

Gregar was running low on health, but the DrillArm pushed through the defence of ColonelCross, and Gregar sped up while healing, this time starting a brutal combo attack that never paused, strikes leading into each other beautifully and Gregar almost never touching the ground, nearly dancing with the agility granted by the acceleration.

"...Let's do it, Mega. Here we go!" Said Lan. " **ProtoCross! Beast Out! MoonBlade, WideBlade, Slasher!"** His own Full Synchro was in play. It was his final gambit- especially knowing Gregar would cause the beast form to expire faster.

MegaMan surged with power and there was roar as ProtoCross became something else. The hair and helmet extended a little, becoming wilder and spikier, with black tips. The visor became jagged, the boots grew small purple glowing claws, and as with all the beast crosses a tail grew, red with a white tip. It was ProtoBeast. MegaMan struck like a bolt of lightning, the blade's force almost overwhelming Gregar in that one blow, but Gregar pushed back, only just holding as he threw MegaMan a step away, and they clashed again, this time resulting in a powerful cut to Gregar. MegaMan slipped behind him and grabbed Gregar's tail, throwing him into the air like a clay pigeon, and then used the power from ProtoCross to warp into the air and cut with MoonBlade. Gregar slammed to the floor, the Undershirt activating.

Ethan was on it. " **I won't give up! BlackBarrier! M-Cannon, WideShot, Muramasa!"**

Gregar's form shimmered for a second, and suddenly his health shot up, recovering 500 points. A crackling shield of dark energy materialised around him, seething with uncontrolled danger.

"Where did that health come from?" Whispered Arthur in confusion.

Falzar actually had an answer. "...Colonel. No, not just Colonel. He's consumed his own buster, and some of his other abilities to heal himself. Colonel just helped."

They clashed again. Gregar tried to shoot MegaMan down with the M-Cannon, landing a hit, but the gap between the navis slammed shut, and the WideBlade ripped away the BlackBarrier in one blow. Gregar sparked once and slammed MegaMan with an electrical tackle, bouncing into the air and firing his WideShot. MegaMan tensed, holding still for a second, and then there was a flash and a cut across Gregar, just before the BlackBarrier reformed. He was down to 251 health. Gregar drew Muramasa, the blade almost seeming to have a gravitational pull of it's own with the power flowing through it. Gregar slashed savagely, indulging the weapon, but MegaMan raised a shield. Muramasa actually cut through, perhaps losing most of the power but doing damage nonetheless. Then ProtoBeast dissolved, leaving MegaMan tired. An injured Gregar jumped forwards to make one more slash. MegaMan was getting weak too, breathing heavily.

" **DoublePoint! FinalGun! Now!"** Said Lan and MegaMan.

 **"Beast OVER! DoublePoint, SuperVulcan, Uninstall!"** Said Ethan and Gregar.

Gregar moved first, MegaMan taking on a golden glow. There was a tense nanosecond of hesitation, like two dueling cowboys. The two quickest guns on the net. Gregar raised the SuperVulcan, firing with a bestial roar as his BeastOver hit like a double expresso. And to Alias' horror, MegaMan raised a shield. Most of the damage was negated, just the ending breaking through for still heavy damage. Gregar sprinted forwards, lunging and trying to bite, and MegaMan moved sluggishly, weighed down with the DoublePoint. Gregar almost bowled him over, but then MegaMan pressed the FinalGun to his chest, and there was a tremendous stream of white laser pellets. Gregar was lifted off, carried up as his BlackBarrier was torn apart, and more and more ate into his health. The UnderShirt kicked in again, and he crashed to the ground, barely able to move. Ethan gasped for a ragged breath, and it was obvious his technique for synchro was failing.

"It's not over yet!" Called a desperate voice.

"Go, Gregar! Ethan!" Follwed another one, full of hope.

Alias and Flare, respectively. Alias had a hand over his navi mark in nervousness, Flare had her clawed hands clasped together, disguise gone. Ethan's grip on Gregar's PET tightened.

Lan narrowed his eyes. " **BeastOver! Spreader! StepSword! BigBomb!"**

MegaMan shouted and howled, Gregar's armor wrapping around him as he went berserk. Gregar's BlackBarrier regenerated, and he crouched. MegaMan let loose with the spreader, undodgable, and stepped in faster than could be followed. Gregar's BlackBarrier shattered again, and he made one determined claw strike, fuelled by Alias and Flare's emotion. It did no damage to MegaMan, but in the one moment of safety it made Gregar jumped, high into the air.

Arthur expected a one-liner from him or Ethan. They both just shouted in determination; pure, raw determination that could drive a man to acheive the impossible. " **HYAAAAAAAH!"** Ethan slammed a chip into the PET.

Gregar shot down like a comet, blazing, and MegaMan's BeastOver ran out, leaving him stuck in place for one second. One second that was worth all the time that had been put into it. Gregar was left on one knee, the LongBlade actually having cracked from the force it had slammed the floor.

'MegaMan, logged out.'

There was a whole five seconds of stunned silence.

* * *

Ethan slumped, head hitting the desk with his eyes wide open. He trembled. "...No ...way. We actually... we..."

"Congratulations." Said MegaMan. "...Are you okay?"

"J-just fine, oh man." Said Ethan.

Blaze danced around a little bit, hands over her mouth. "Oh! Oh my! Oh-ho! Woah! He actually won!"

Lan placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wow! That was amazing! Well done, Ethan! We have to stay in touch, nobody else can match us!"

"Thanks... Oh yeah, jack out, Gregar."

Gregar sat down as the PET started to repair him. "I won... fair and square..."

"You can have your power back now." Said MegaMan.

"Mm... Actually..." Said Gregar. "That wasn't your best, was it?"

"What do you mean?" Said Blaze. "He was totally serious!"

"Your Hub batch form." Said Gregar. "I'd like to challenge that. With... my own ultimate form. I refuse to go up against Falzar until I know I can go the distance against a god."

"Your original form?" Said Lan.

"No. Flare, Alias. I'll need your help." Said Gregar. "...And a few minutes to heal. It's just... I've fought you when you're using you bond as Navi and NetOp. But... you have a much stronger bond. You used it to overpower me before, back in Cyber City. That's the bond I want to test myself with. Hub. Bat."

"Are you sure now is the time?" Said Arthur. "There's a big threat on the horizion. I don't want Lan exhausted for it."

Lan just smiled. "I only need five hours of rest to recover from using the Hub batch. Although I might get sore fingers if I did it twice in one day, I'm fine with that. Let's do this, once we're all recovered."

"Let's all go get coffee!" Said Blaze enthusiastically. "Or... maybe hot chocolate or something? I guess caffiene might make it hard to focus."

"Good idea." Said Arthur. "Come on."

They filed out of the room.

* * *

"Hey Ethan?" Said Blaze. "How did you become friends with the Cybeasts? I'd love to know!"

"He saved our lives." Said Flare.

"Multiple times." Added Gregar.

"Alias found them wandering the net, badly damaged and pursued by Bass. We brought them in and healed them, and they were grateful, but then Bass attacked. Alias almost got absolutely shredded, he hadn't even begun to unlock his hidden potential, but then the beasts forced their way out of the computer and downloaded themselves into him to try and combine thier powers to beat Bass." Said Ethan. "That was actually the spark that began unlocking the true power of the Ciel system, when it was forced to accomodate TWO cybeasts. It forced it way beyond any limits it had, and that in turn let Alias grow really fast for a few weeks."

"That's awesome!" Said Lan. "They must really have liked you!"

"...At first, actually, we were a bit distant to each other. We had no negative feelings, but we had trouble connecting. They'd seen harshness, the worst of life. I had tough times with my uncle's shop failing, but nothing like them. But we bonded over time."

"We didn't find common ground." Said Gregar. "We made common ground."

"So, that's how I met the beasts." Finished Ethan, as Lan drained his smoothie. Summer was still well underway, and everyone had decided it wasn't time for a hot chocolate.

"Wow. That's some luck." Said Arthur.

"Not really." Said Gregar. "We could sense his Ciel system. We were both searching for something we could use to defeat Bass in our desperation, and then he came into range."

"I wonder if it was actually luck I found Treble?"

"Probably." Said Treble. "Hey Gregar, how are you feeling? Still fixing up your buster? That was a pretty weird way to self-heal but I like it!"

"All good. I'm ready now."

"Then let's return to the labs." Said Arthur. "And... maybe get a more powerful computer."

* * *

Gregar faced MegaMan, his power swirling around him. "...After this fight, I'll take my power back."

Flare and Alias were by his side. "We're ready."

Ethan laid out all three PETs on the desk. He was in front of a large computer, second only to the mainframe. Arthur and Blaze watched. "I'm as ready as possible. We'll begin fusion whenever you're ready, Lan... I hope I can use the Mushin focus technique with Grezar. We never had a chance to try..."

"Don't worry." Said Alias. "We're unstoppable together."

"Hub. Bat, set." Said Lan.

"Executing." MegaMan's transformation was simple, rather than flashy. His eyes turned brown. His suit slowly began to glow with data, streams of tiny repeating letters. ACGT, over and over in random order (Arthur was confused as to why, but it looked cool so he shrugged it off). His helmet dissolved, revealing brown hair Arthur recognised.

"You ARE Hub." Said Arthur. "...but how did you appear in the real world, then? It explains your sychro when you operated Gregar. You had his soul. But... how? Man, Scilabs sure knows how to make navis..."

" **I'll explain later.** " Said Hub and Lan.

"Now." Said Ethan. There was a flash, and Grezar was standing before Hub Hikari.

" **Major operation, set! Execute!"**

"With all our strength! GO!" Said Ethan.

Arthur was amazed. Grezar moved off faster than anything, trying to attack, and MegaMan didn't react until the last moment, before making a judo-style grapple against the quick claw attack, throwing Grezar away. Lan didn't say a word as he used chips, and MegaMan suddenly fired a DestroyPulse, red energy paralysing.

"Wind chip in! Convert to SilverWind!"

Grezar hovered in the air, darting around buster fire that looked like it could have deleted normal navis in one blast. A few pulses found thier mark, Hub displaying almost impossible sharpshooting skills, and then Grezar launched a massive flurry of white arcs from its wings, each razor sharp. Hub seemed to walk through the storm unharmed, dodging each by the tiniest amount possible. He suddenly jumped, soaring higher and higher under his own power, and then punching at Grezar, scoring a blow with a LifeSword. Grezar was down 800 health in less than ten seconds. MegaMan hadn't taken damage.

"Sword chip in! Convert to TrueBlade!" Said Ethan. His voice was gaining that null determination, but the way the fight was going, it was clear he'd never reach his focused state.

Grezar held out a hand and a thin rod of light appeared. It whipped it round to strike at Hub, and it bounced off a reflector. Hub shot them in the face with his buster, and then the twins spoke. " **This fight is over! MasterCross!"**

Hub split. But he didn't split into five, like a normal MasterCross. Arthur saw a small crowd come out of him. Every single one was a cross.

Blaze nearly choked. "All _twenty?!_ "

One by one, they blinked forwards and attacked, each for a solid 100 damage. In the space of a few seconds, 2000 damage worth of sword swipes... had been absorbed by Grezar's blood-red aura. And then Grezar fired its buster, and scored a single hit with the snowstorm-like spread. It wasn't much, 50 damage. But it was hope.

"Cursor chip in. Convert to LaserRay." Said Ethan.

Grezar fired the beam from its mouth, and Hub flew to the side with a Dash, then killed the aura with NorthWind. It had still absorbed far more than a normal aura ever would. MegaMan quickly loosed a ZapRing. It found its mark, and then MegaMan seemed to pause. HolyPanels appeared all around him, a useful synergy with his low health.

"Break chip! ShatteringImpact!" Said Ethan urgently.

Grezar exploded forwards, head glowing, and then MegaMan unleashed the HolyDream. Grezar took the barrage of glowing lights at point blank, forcing its way forwards even as they all ate away its health. But then the HolyDream ended, and Hub wasn't quite able to dodge the headbutt. 300 damage wouldn't have been too terrible to most navis. But Hub, the glass cannon? He was now at 150 health. Grezar 700, their previously huge bulk seemingly just evaporating under Hub's wrath. This fight could go either way.

Arthur noticed a heat haze coming from the computer's air vent. "Uh, guys..." Nobody heard him.

"...Program. Advance." Said Ethan. "Convert to TheEnd. We have to end this now, or we're finished."

Grezar started glowing. The entire area began to tremble and shake, panels cracking and glowing with white light.

Hub took two steps forwards. Grezar tried to shoot with his buster, and then Hub was behind him, with an AreaSteal. He held a glowing NeoVariableSword, and was clearly in Full Synchro. Double LifeSword was primed.

There was a small 'whumf' sound as the computer caught fire, and the area frizzed with static. A burst of white light caught Hub from below as the sword outright annihilated Grezar, only the limitations of a 'friendly' battle keeping the data of the three navis who tumbled across the floor intact. Emergency logout protocols grabbed them before the computer died. Then the fire alarm went off.

Lan stumbled away from the computer, clutching his head. He grabbed his PET off the desk, and Arthur saw a smile cross his face. MegaMan had to be okay.

Ethan yelped in pain, and put his finger in his mouth, as Burn kicked the door off its hinges holding a fire extinguisher. He unplugged the computer and gave it a quick blast of foam, the flames dying. "What did you do?" He sounded almost impressed.

"Burned my finger. PET got hot." Said Ethan. "It's protected, though. Data should be fine."

"Uh... Maybe we needed the mainframe for that battle." Said Lan.

"Yeah." Said Blaze. "But who won? I couldn't tell?"

"Hub." Said Gregar.

"Gregar." Said MegaMan.

Arthur looked sheepish. "...Draw?"

"No, he hit first." Said Gregar. "I wan't quite strong enough."

"I might not have made it out alive though. That last hit left me at 50 health, and I feel like I couldn't have dodged all of that attack." Countered MegaMan. "...Come on. Most navis would be gone in two seconds. You did exceptionally well, the closest fight I've had in ages. Only Bass's very best comes close. And you lasted twice as long as Bass. Come on now. I'm pretty happy to admit I lost. Although if we had a rematch... Well, I'd know to save my MasterCross for when your Aura's gone. I promise you won't get anywhere near as far again."

Gregar sighed.

"...I think you did better than could be expected." Said Ethan. "I truthfully had doubts we'd even touch him."

"Go on, Gregar. Take this. It's yours." Said MegaMan.

Gregar was quiet. "...Alright, fine. I'll compromise, just this once. Maybe not what I hoped for, but Ethan's right. I don't really know if I could have won. We're like family... but you two are the real deal. I'll take the power back as soon as we log into the same area. Then I'll fight Falzar. Where can we use?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow and looked to Blaze. She just placed a finger over her lips and smiled.

Alias coughed. "Uhh... how much was that computer worth?"

Ethan suddenly grimaced. "I hope I can fix it..."

Burn just laughed. "Don't worry too much if you can't. Lan's rich." But he got serious. "Anyway, come with me, Arthur. We've got a virus to find."

 **Author's notes: On MegaMan's chip combos, all of them are based on popular in-game combos. RockCube, with VoodooDoll next to it will deal 4x the damage when you use ElecManSP (less if the RockCube gets blown up first, but more if they're next to the RockCube). FinalGun is a giga chip from BN4. 5 Real Operation, and is essentially SearchSoul's charge shot on steroids. (50 damage, pierce and auto-targeted. Hits an extra time for every second spent charging. In game, taking damage broke the charge, but here I kept it because I'm the author and I do what I want.)**

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	32. Chapter 32: Selflessness

Arthur jogged after Burn. "Did you see that fight?"

"Well, I saw the aftermath. What happened in there? Those computers are reinforced." Said Burn.

"MegaMan used his ultimate form. I don't know what to say apart from I see why most people refer to it as a god now." Admitted Arthur. "So, where are we going? You guys must have some kind of cool mission control here, right?"

"Ooh, I can imagine it!" Said Treble. "I bet they've got some kind of secret base! With a hidden entrance!"

Burn smiled, stopping in front of a door. He was failing to hold in a laugh. "...Welcome to mission control." He swung the door open.

Denny turned around, a swivel chair creaking. "Arthur! Looks like you're my replacement."

The room was decidedly un-scilabs-like. Light filtered in through the windows, showing off several corkboards and a bunch of wires trailing to and fro. Every corkboard was stuffed with papers, all labelled different things. A beaten-up printer lay in one corner, sharply constrasting the row of five swivel chairs in front of five well-cleaned PCs. A red cloth banner had been hung up over the PCs, with 'Team Aviators!' marked on in sharpie pen.

"We've taken to calling ourselves team Aviators." Said Burn confidently. "Me and my sis used to call ourselves the Aviators back when she was starting out. Maybe the name doesn't always fit, but we like it. ~We'll give your spirit a lift!"

"Who's on this team?"

"Me, sis, Denny, Wily. And you and this nice kid called Sean are like honorary members."

"Oh, Wily. He's the one who made a signal booster so I could get Treble back. I never thanked him for that..." Said Arthur. "Treble, remind me next time I see him."

"Sure thing!"

Denny gestured to the walls. "If you get any important information, print it out and pin it to one of the boards. Maybe Eurasia could hack our computers if they got really lucky, but you can't hack a piece of paper."

"Smart. But for now, we should hurry and get after that virus. Have you got any info for us?" Said Arthur.

"Well, I'm still getting used to my replacement Navi." Admitted Denny. "...I did have a bond with the last one."

"Oh, it's simple imperfection." Said a voice from the desk behind Denny. "It's omnipresent, to my sorrow."

Arthur leaned around to see a white-red navi. "Beta?"

"The one and only. We will perfect the net." Said Beta. "And that starts by protecting it, first and foremost."

"We decided the best way to keep our two reborn super-programs safe would be to give them operators." Explained Denny. "That way they have a 24/7 guard, and someone they can trust that shouldn't be easy to exploit or find a weakness in." He sounded incredibly trustworthy himself, his shifting personality a flawless mask.

"Okay, but let's stay on track." Said Burn. "Where should we search to find that virus?"

Denny brought up a screen. "...I have suspicions. But there's only one way to know for sure. We're going to have to comb this entire area. Be on the lookout for any kind of signal disruptor or hidden area."

"SteamMan, jack in. Execute."

"Treble, Hunt."

* * *

Treble appeared next to the huge red navi. He felt oddly small in SteamMan's presence, yet there was something about him. Something proud, honorable, yet friendly and team-spirited.

"For justice?" Offered SteamMan, in a deep tone.

"For justice!" Said Treble, enthused. "Let's go!"

They ran off, towards the Undernet. They started to talk as they travelled.

"Did I tell you about the time I led a team of navis to liberate Cyber city?" Said SteamMan. "Team SteamMan. They named it after me. I was a little embarrassed, actually. But it was a real team, and I loved every moment."

"Liberate Cyber City? From what?" Asked Treble.

Arthur scratched the back of his head. "Uh... you might have been deleted at the time." He said. "But a group called Nebula took control of the entire net in a shock attack. The officials organised everyone into teams to liberate it. I remember the two most famous ones were Team ProtoMan and... um, I think it was Team..."

"Team Colonel." Said Burn. "They were the real heroes. MegaMan was one of them. The rest of us struggled to just liberate our own cities. But them? They broke through several Nebula strongholds, and ultimately took the fight TO Nebula. I wasn't there for that battle, but I have to say the kiddo outdid herself."

"...Blaze helped take down Nebula?" Said Arthur.

"She did. Our team, and team ProtoMan both supported team Colonel in many places. Blaze went with them for the final fight. But we were primarily focused on freeing Cyber City."

"That sounds so cool..." Said Treble. "What was it like?"

"We had to take back the areas shrouded in Nebula's evil." Said SteamMan. "And we did, through glorious combat! We prided ourselves on never losing, quite a feat given the scale of what we were doing. Although there were some close calls."

They were just approaching the Undernet when there was a call. "You there! Wait, I need some help!"

SteamMan turned, and saw a navi in white armor, with purple accents. Treble recognized them as Midnight. They were holding a text file. "...I'm a bit lost. Do you know how to get to Scilabs from here?"

"Scilabs? It's, uh..." Treble looked around.

"Travel over that connection and keep going for three areas. Then take a right and you'll reach central area. It's well-signposted from there." Said SteamMan.

"Thanks."

"Wait, why are you going to Scilabs? Did Alias call you?" Said Treble.

"He wanted to get everyone together before the duel. So they could all talk with the- Um, I shouldn't keep him waiting." Midnight started running.

"Do you know her?" Said SteamMan.

"She's one of Alias' friends." Treble was struck by a thought. "Wait, they're already about to duel?! I should be there for Flare!"

"...I could argue against that, but I see why it's important to you." Said Arthur. "However, no matter the outcome of the fight Flare will live, and there's no way you could influence this fight. It would be against the rules. If you really want to see her again right now, I'll take you, but we should focus on finding that virus. And... I don't really want to run off on Burn."

Treble looked around, struggling for words. "Okay. You're right. We should find the virus. I don't want another repeat of ChanceMan." Then a thought struck him. "Wait! There's something we have to do, immediately!"

"Hm? What?"

"Bass." Said Treble. "We need to make sure Bass doesn't go and interrupt them."

"You're right... Burn, we'll take this portion of the Undernet." Arthur indicated a deep section of the map. "We're going to make a detour and try to talk to Bass. I don't think we're quite powerful enough to take him on, but we should be able to distract him for a few minutes then run away while transformed, and then he'll be weakened enough not to attack the duel."

"No can do." Said Burn.

"Wha-"

"We'll come with you." He said. "We've got some experience fighting him. Together we're stronger."

"You'd risk yourself like that for me? Wow, you're really brave..." Said Treble.

SteamMan nodded. "You've done the same for us. We _never_ forget our debts. And that includes the one we owe you for intercepting that DestroyPulse meant for Flare, and in turn FakeMan's capture. Let's proceed. You'll have to show me the way."

Arthur smiled. "Burn... thank you. We should lay out a strategy for meeting Bass. Talking might be worth a shot, just because it'll keep him busy for an extra minute. And we'll have to keep an eye out for Crescendo, in case we get ambushed."

Denny sat up. "I recommend SteamMan hangs back until fighting starts. Treble's too tough to get deleted in one blow, and Bass truly despises the officials, more than even Gregar. Although, Gregar's hatred seems to have lessened since we started treating him well. Thankfully. Either way, if you want to talk for a long time, have him stay back at first."

"Duly noted." Said Burn.

"Hey, this way!" Treble went down a narrow side path.

Denny leaned in in surprise. "Where did you just...? I... never noticed that path." He looked back to Beta. "Imperfection, huh?"

A DarkMech virus strayed a little too close for comfort. Burn looked at it. "Let us. You should get an idea of how we fight."

SteamMan stepped forwards, and brandished a giant pair of steel-gray knuckledusters. "These are all I need." He wasn't the fastest as he moved forward, but he clearly wasn't reckless or impatient either. He neatly evaded the DarkMech's ball of Thunder, and got right in it's face. It tried to slash at him, and the blade bounced off SteamMan's gauntlet without so much as a scratch. He put a heavy foot forwards, shaking the ground, and threw his weight into a mighty punch, fist shooting forwards a bit on a hydraulic extension. The virus nearly went down in one shot, but had enough health to let SteamMan demostrate his ability to make an eruption under a target. There was a small rumble, then a jet of steam blew out underneath the DarkMech, deleting it. "Justice delivered."

"Pretty cool! Those punches look deadly." Said Treble.

"They can actually displace SuperArmor. I was designed to help bring down criminals that were particularly resilient. Hence my assignment to capturing Gregar." Explained SteamMan. "People usually don't expect anything apart from paralysis to get through SuperArmor."

"Let's not stand around talking." Said Arthur gently. "Time is critical."

"Right! Come on, I bet you've never seen this area of the Undernet before." Said Treble.

* * *

They ventured deeper into the Undernet, eventually coming to the area linked to Bass' homepage. The background was darker, and the viruses harsh. Treble pried his claws out of one as it was deleted. "Ugh, I never realised how tough they were..."

"Haven't you been here before?" Said Burn.

"They don't bother me while I'm transformed, and I normally am so I can just jump over all this maze." Treble looked over the mishmash of walkways. "Seriously, it's no wonder nobody goes after Bass. Reaching him is more dangerous than taking on most customised Navis." He saw a BigHat waddle into his range, and perked up. "Ooh, virus! Me first!"

Deleting it wasn't hard. SteamMan followed closely. "I have to admit, I don't like BigHat viruses. They're just... dishonorable, if you make one mistake then it's nearly impossible to recover."

"Really? But it's so easy to take them down." Said Treble. "I can just run rings around them- oh, right, you don't have that much mobility. I guess it must be hard to balance attacking the virus and clearing out the FlashBombs."

"Correct. I heard about a foreign chip called BlessedLight from Denny, that protects from status effects like that. I could definitely use one for facing BigHats. But they're always sold out when we try to order them."

"I think one of my friends has one. Maybe you should meet him someday, and trade with him."

"Maybe. But for now! We need to press on."

"Yeah, we're pretty close... In fact, you stay here. See that corner?" Treble pointed. "The security cube is just around it."

"Alright. We'll move as soon as Arthur signals." Said Burn.

Treble cautiously ventured forwards, approaching the cube. He pressed the little buzzer for attention, having a fleeting thought about how weird it was that Bass of all navis would have something as mundane as a doorbell. No answer, as expected. "Bass? It's me, Treble." There was no response for a little while, and then to his surprise the cube unlocked. Treble walked in.

The first thing he saw wasn't Bass. It was Crescendo. He was wrapped in a blue cloak that went with his white armor much more nicely than the brown Bass wore. His expression was tired, worn down. "...What do you want?"

"I need to talk to Bass."

"About?"

"...Gregar and Falzar."

Crescendo's expression shifted. Treble realised the tiredness before had been hopelessness. Now there was a flicker of warmth. "Come with me." Crescendo walked across the page. Treble came to a mound of brown cloaks, and realised Bass was lying in them, eyes shut. "He can't move anymore. He can hardly speak. It's taking all the energy he has to contain Falzar's data."

"Can't he just... throw it out?"

"No. It just doesn't seem possible to move it." Crescendo looked around. "Do you think he knew? That this would happen? And that's why he rescued me, trained me? I wonder, sometimes. I only learned about his reputation recently. The legendary solo navi, without an ally in either physical or cyber world- and no desire to gain one."

Treble placed a hand on Crescendo's shoulder gently. It sparked on contact, but Crescendo didn't seem to be using his passive defence actively. "...No, he genuinely cares about you."

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"He tried to recruit me, ages and ages ago. I turned him down because I'd never have seen Arthur again, but... he cared about me, if violently. So that means he can care about you, too. He could have easily just found some mercenary to do his bidding, if he knew this would happen."

"...mm. Anyway, the power inside him now is like a bomb. If he were to lose his focus, Falzar would simply blow him apart. I... don't know what to do."

"There must be some way to get the power out of him." Treble had a thought. "...Maybe Falzar herself would know a way."

"Why would you save him? He wants to delete you. And her, too." Said Crescendo.

"..." Treble shrugged. "I guess because it's important to you, and I put a lot of time into trying to save you. Actually... do you know about your past?"

"I was made by Eurasia as a navi to permanently delete programs that would self-revive, like you. Who were you trying to save me from? Bass? He saved me." Said Crescendo.

"I don't know if I could revive, I'm not at full power." Said Treble. "But not Bass... before that?"

"There's nothing before that." Said Crescendo. "...Well. There are fragmented memories. I assumed they were junk data."

"You were made by Scilabs. You were called Trill. Eurasia kidnapped you and finished your development so that you'd be under their control. It lead to that place getting raided by the police, once we proved it was them" Said Treble.

Crescendo hesitated. "...StrikeMan..."

"Who?"

"...Nobody. Anyways. I don't think they'll want me back. I've become the right hand to the most wanted navi in the world." Said Crescendo.

"They'd totally take you back. But you seem too loyal. You'll stick with him until there's nothing else that can be done, right?"

"Right. He's my only friend." Crescendo sat up. "...I'll do as you ask."

"Huh?! Why?"

"If you help me save Bass, even though you know that he'll come after you and your friends... I'll do anything you wish." Said Crescendo. "My abilities are unique. I'm sure I can be useful."

Arthur was taken back at the offer. He'd been expecting a fight. "...Ask him about the powerful virus."

Treble nodded. "There's a really powerful virus signature in the Undernet recently. Do you know where it is?"

"...I can find out." Said Crescendo. "This cloak can create a portal to anywhere I want. I'll start searching parts of the Undernet for it. Some of them are locked behind powerful barriers, like the WWW area. I'll check those for you."

"Thanks." Said Treble. "Here's the Offical email, if you find out where it is. I'll talk to Falzar about getting her power out of Bass."

"...You're too kind for your own good."

Treble shrugged. "Honestly, I enjoy fighting strong opponents. Maybe I can do it without worrying about getting deleted if I get on his good side?"

"And possibly too optimistic. I'll get to work." Crescendo whooshed his cloak around, and it made a portal behind him, that sucked him in.

Treble was left with Bass. "Hey, Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"Send me that cloak I have."

"...Sure thing." The brown cloak materialised around Treble. He took it off, and put it next to Bass.

"We'd better go find that virus." Said Treble.

* * *

Combing was tedious and dangerous. An overall awful combination, but the four were bonding quickly over it. "Burn, watch out in this place. I think they have BigHats."

"Right. But I see those DarkMechs you don't like. We'll be your shield against them." Said Burn. "You know, I respect Treble's choice to save Bass more than you might expect."

"Really? I was worried we were going to have to keep it a secret or something."

"No, no. We both agree the world could always use more honour." Said Burn. "Honour, justice, valor. We want to see those in the world. We certainly owe Bass some justice for the problems he's caused us over the years, but at the same time- Treble was willing to take a risk like that to give someone justice. And it would have been all too easy to backstab him. And while not quite the same as valor, it was quite brave to go in there alone."

"Aww, thanks!" Said Treble. "...I'm... not really that great with words, but I think we get along too!"

"Wonderful. Now, get behind me! SUPER-SLAMM!" SteamMan stepped forwards and smashed a Swordy into a pancake, before it could attack.

They continued on for a little while, and then suddenly Treble tensed up. "...Do you feel something?"

"Nothing abnormal." Said SteamMan.

Treble frowned. "It's familiar... like harsh wind..." His eyes had no whites after being in combat, but would have widened at the realization that struck. "Flare! That's her power, all the way from Scilabs!"

Arthur sat up. "If you'll be okay here for ten minutes, I could go check on the fight? Actually, no. We should go together."

"We still haven't made much progress on that virus..." Said Burn. "Although if that were Blaze in there, I'd be along in a flash. Maybe we'll take a break for now? Denny, how much have we swept?"

"About sixty percent of the needed area." Said Denny. "Beta's analysed the data, and we're sure that it's in an area that can only be accessed by a long-range link. For now, Arthur- go check on Flare."

"Treble, back!" Arthur bolted out of the room.

* * *

He almost immediately ran into Chaud. "Chaud, which room are they duelling in?" Blurted Arthur.

"The duel's over." Said Chaud. "But they're in the mainframe, with our supervision. It was the only computer we could guarantee would have the power."

"...W-who won?"

"Gregar. The guards know to let you in. You shouldn't keep your friends waiting."

Arthur sighed in relief. "Oh, that's the best news I've had in ages."

It wasn't a long trip to the mainframe. Arthur stepped into the room to find the atmosphere was strangely subdued, Ethan leaning in close to a screen. Treble jumped out of the PET the moment it was pointed to a port. The first thing he saw was Gregar kneeling. Holding Flare, or at least what was left of her. "Flare! FLARE! FLARE! I shouldn't have left your side!" Shouted Treble.

Gregar looked up. "She'll be... ow, fine. Ethan and Alias are just wiring a repair program to the mainframe." Now that Treble was closer he could see both of them were nearly deleted, Gregar was missing entire parts of his body. His tail was partly gone, one of his gold frills was broken, a chunk of his jaw had been taken out, there was a long, deep scrape along his back and there were several huge glowing patches of raw data on his armor where he'd nearly been deleted. Both his arms were very nearly gone, one had a stab right through it, the other was literally just his hand held in the air by his power. A feather was still stuck through one of his legs, and he was even missing a foot, explaining why he was kneeling.

Flare looked up. "Treble... hello..." Her body was even worse than Gregar's, glowing fracture lines running across several parts. Her feet, her torso, her wings. It was as if she were a glass ornament that had been smashed with a hammer, but somehow not shattered. But there were a few clearer points of damage. Her wings had bite marks, and aside from the fracture lines they were shredded. Her waist... On closer inspection, she had no waist. Gregar had just held the two halves of her together. And possibly most disturbing, her head. One side was a glowing mass, as though it had been crushed. The other had three claw marks that had gouged deeply. Treble was about to touch her when Gregar growled.

"Don't. Her body's only reforming here because I'm forcing it to. Nobody wants to go on a ghost hunt." He shuddered, and snarled in pain. Data was falling out of him freely.

"What did you do to her!?" Said Treble.

Flare couldn't smile with a beak, but sounded serene and happy as she said "He tore me apart."

"I would have been gentler if I could have. I didn't have any choice." Said Gregar.

"No, I'm happy you did." Said Flare. "Finally, I'm free. I can't feel the system at all. It's been deleted..."

Treble knelt. "...As soon as you're healed, I'm going to hug you and never let go."

There was a call from Alias at the side of the area. "On three... Heave!" Followed by a grinding sound as a few navis pushed over a healing program. Midnight, Alias, a few navis Treble didn't recognize, and to his surprise Zero and even SheepMan.

Gregar struggled, and shuffled Flare's body over to the chamber. The second the chamber activated and started healing, he collapsed. Treble was the only one close enough to catch him. "He's in bad shape. Really bad!" Said Treble. His hands flickered with purple soul energy, attempting to restore some power to Gregar. "Ethan, you'd better jack him out! He's completely exhausted!"

Ethan nodded, a relieved grin on his face. "You did good, Gregar buddy. Real good." Gregar disappeared from the area. "It might take a while for just a PET to heal him, but he'll be okay. So... he did it! Alias we did it! Woo!"

Alias jumped and punched the sky. "Yes! Gregar!"

"That fight... he earned his reputation." Added Midnight.

SheepMan smiled, something of a rare occasion when Treble was around. "Finally, Flare won't have to live in fear."

Flare sighed inside the healing chamber. "...Thanks, everyone..."

Ember walked out from behind the healing machine. "That was one _brutal_ fight. I was worried you weren't going to even come back after it, especially once Gregar knocked you out of Cybeast form. That attack..."

Flare shrugged. "We're not like normal navis. We can lose parts of ourselves without getting deleted. Painful, but it means we keep fighting until the bitter end."

Alias sat down. "You know what? We're all here now, since I had everyone come over for moral support. Let's have a party of sorts. Maybe all go and hang out somewhere?"

"Hey, I know!" Said Treble. "Let's all go to Chip's restaurant, once Flare's healed!"

"Yeah!" Said Alias. "Prowler, Ammie? Your NetOps won't mind if you stick around?"

"This counts as a special occasion. Miles can hold down the fort."

"I wouldn't just run off on your lot."

Ethan took a look at Gregar's PET. "Gregar will be repaired in maybe an hour."

Flare carefully touched one of the glowing fractures across her waist. "...I'll be healed in ten minutes. This is a very powerful program."

"You ARE using the entire mainframe." Said Ember. "Anyway... congratulations, you guys!"

There was a general murmur of agreement. Eventually, Treble looked at Flare curiously. "How does your transformation work, now? You didn't need chips."

"It's just at will." Said Flare. "I've got my full strength, to use as I see fit. It's exhausted right now, but it should return in a few hours. Just like Gregar."

"We should play some more of your music." Said SheepMan. "Amaterasu's only heard a little bit."

Ethan pointed the PET to a port. "Here's the box."

As the navis started to listen to some of Flare's singing, Blaze walked over to Ethan. "Hey, when everything's okay, netbattle me? We always wondered how we'd match up against Gregar at his best. He's definitely a lot faster than I expected."

Ethan grinned. "Sure we'll battle you, but there's a queue."

"Actually, what does Gregar fight like?" Said Arthur. "If Treble's transformation turns him from a speedster to a moving wall, then I guess Gregar isn't as much of an all-out attacker."

"Nah, he's definitely still attack focused." Said Ethan. "Just from that battle, I'd say his ability to destroy things is basically unrivalled. Most of his normal special attacks got boosted, including the new one. And he's basically supersonic for mobility. We could hardly follow him."

"Dang. Any drawback?"

Ethan shrugged. "Not if he's got us. He can convert chips to reload his special weapons instantly, and that basically means we can just nuke everything with CB-FireBreath."

"CB?"

"CyBeast. We needed a cool acronym, you've got GS." Said Ethan.

"Ohh, right. Soo... what are his weapons? I lost track, I just know he has a lightning tackle." Said Arthur.

"Navi? FireBreath, LightningRush, TailArrow, ConsumingBite, and X-Strike. Basically all exactly what they sound like, but cool. Transformed, CB-FireBreath, ThunderBeam, TailGatling, SuperBite, and X-Impact. Any of them will wreck your world."

Blaze looked to the unconscious navi. "Hey, that's a pretty big arsenal. I like the X-Strike best. It really blends offence and defence."

"How?"

"It warps him forwards, and when he's striking he's got enough force to knock most attacks away. A dodge and a safe landing." Said Ethan.

There was a short cough from Gregar's PET. "...Keep complimenting me." He looked around, still badly damaged but starting to regain his lost body parts. "Flare's okay, right? You all seem too happy for it to be bad."

"Yeah, she's recovering pretty fast. We'll get you healed up next." Said Ethan.

"Yo Gregar!" Called Alias. "Nice fight!"

"Thanks!" Gregar called, his throat sounding hoarse. He coughed again. "...Burned myself a bit. Overdid it on the fire breath."

Ethan laughed a bit. "Totally worth it though. We're all going down to Chip's restaurant to celebrate once you're healed."

"Hey, Flare." Called Gregar. "How you doing down there?"

"I'm feeling better." Said Flare gently. The fractures had receded, and were localised to just a few points on her armor. "You?"

"Never more alive." Said Gregar.

Arthur realised something. "This is probably the start of a better life for you two. You're finally on the same side as a lot of friends, and the government would rather listen to you than hunt you down."

"...The world's gone mad." Said Gregar. "Not that I'm conplaining. Not having to worry about tomorrow sounds nice. Hey, Alias. You ready for some netbattles?"

"You don't need to ask." Said Alias.

* * *

The moment Flare stepped out of the program, she was almost tackled by Treble. He almost bowled her off her feet with a hug, but was about able to steady them while crying "I missed you so much..."

Flare was surprised for a moment, and then returned the hug. "Thanks for never giving up."

They stood there for a while, effectively glued to each other, until Treble said. "...We should go on a second date some time."

Ember looked on and smiled. "You might have bypassed the whole 'dating' stage with all this. Then again, dates are cool. Where would you go?"

They unhugged a bit, just holding each other. Flare thought for a second. "I want to take him around my area."

Gregar logged into the page, and limped forwards a bit before Alias gave him a shoulder lift. "I got you, I got you." They started moving for the repair program before SheepMan and another one of Alias' friends ran over, and picked Gregar straight off the ground, carrying him over like a team holding up a star player. They slid him into the repair program and he breathed out.

"...Remember that one time I broke out of one of these?" Said Gregar, apparently amused by the memory.

"All too well." Said Alias.

"Hey, Treble." Said Gregar. "What're you going to do now? Looks like we're basically home free."

"I still have to find that strange virus in the Undernet." Said Treble.

Flare looked up. "...I nearly forgot about that. We'll help you out, it's our responsibility. There isn't much that can stand up to our sheer power."

"Uhh, what strange virus?" Said Gregar. "I've been locked up, I'm out of the loop."

"Oh, we found this virus made from bits of the BeholderEye and a few other bad ones." Said Treble. "We're just going to go and blow it up before anyone can get hurt."

"...Eh, fair enough. It's just made of regular old viruses, I don't see them having any chance of having a mind." Said Gregar. "And it's using my power, so that makes it my fight too."

Ember giggled. "I don't know what it is, but it's never going to know what hit it."

* * *

A few hours later, everyone was in the restaurant. The sun was starting to set, and the navis had been having something of a party. Conversation was flowing around the food. Treble was finally tearing into a steak. "...Mm, it's really sweet and crunchy!"

Arthur exchanged a glance with Blaze. "...Um... well, as long as you enjoy it!" He said awkwardly.

Ember picked up a pair of chopsticks, sitting across from a navi in an ornate set of white, wolf-styled armor with a dramatic red scarf who'd introduced herself as Amaterasu. They'd both ordered sushi. "So, where are you from?" Said Ember.

"I am from Choina. Alias and I shared our developments together. You could say we're siblings, since Mrs. Ciel worked on me occasionally. You must be... hm. What is your name?"

"Oh, I'm Ember! I was one of the officials who got mixed up in this. Honestly, we were on opposite sides a few days ago. Just then, everything changed so fast. Hey... I recognise that scarf... are you a Boktai fan? Solar boy Django?"

Amaterasu lit up. "...You could say that. I'll show you my collection later."

Gregar and Alias were both laughing about something, while Flare looked out at the background. "It's so weird." She said.

"What is?" Said Treble.

"Being free. I could just go and fly anywhere now, and not have to worry about getting tracked or spotted or anything."

"...I guess you could. Are you going anywhere?"

"No, I don't plan to." Said Flare. She looked around. "...I was a bit embarrassed to say this in front of everyone, but I don't want to wait any longer. But I really, truly am grateful for what you did for me. I want you to have something."

"What is it?"

"Ethan, send me the data. You know what it is." Said Flare.

Next to Blaze, Ethan nodded. "Yeah, he earned it." He slotted three chips into the PET.

Flare passed the bundle of chips to Treble. He took it and looked up. "Woah! Thanks..."

Flare seemed happy, her eyes conveying that just as well as words. "This is a better date than the first one."

Treble looked closely at the art of the chip. Flare, against a light red background, then a warm yellow, and finally a sky-blue. All three tiers of her Navi chip.

Arthur started writing the data. He knew Ethan was only a few metres away form him, but he knew it wouldn't have been the same to get those chips from him. He read the description. 'FBuster, Talon and Soul attack!' He shuffled through his pack until he came to his copy of Gregar EX, comparing them. 'GBuster, Claw and Aura attack!'. Parallel to each other, apparently. Arthur was also struck by some of Flare's words. She was free now, but Eurasia was still around, and clearly after her and Gregar. "We'll protect them." Said Arthur to himself. "...And I won't keep them in the dark, either. But first, let's get rid of that virus."

* * *

Burn finally came into the room, just as everyone was logging out. It had been almost five hours since the duel, and the sky was dim. "Oh, just who I needed! Kiddo, come on. We're closing in on that virus. Arthur, Crescendo came through for us."

Blaze turned round at 'Kiddo'. "Heya Big bro!"

Ethan responded to the mention of 'that virus'. "I'll stick the beasts on it. If a problem can be solved by force, then I'm pretty sure we've got that in spades."

Gregar nodded. "Time to put the past where it belongs. We'll clear out that virus for good."

"Where is it?" Said Arthur.

"That's the problem." Said Burn. "You three come with me."

They followed Burn back to the Aviator's room. Arthur noticed Denny was gone, and then realised it was probably because of Beta. Chaud was there, as well as Lan and even Wily. Chaud pulled up an image on one of the computers. A destroyed area with a static background, and many huge gashes and craters in the floors and walls. "You all recognise this area, yes?"

Ethan and Alias looked confused, but everyone else frowned. Gregar was the one to speak. "Figures something that was shaped by my power would go there."

"The Underground?" Said Treble.

Chaud pointed to some scans. "That virus is hiding inside. Trill has sent visual confirmation, and expects that Treble upholds his end of the deal. I'm not sure what that is, but as long as it hasn't broken the law- it's saved us a lot of hassle. But there is a problem."

Wily took over. "There's no way in or out short of blasting a new hole in Central area. In the time it would take to organise that, that virus could attack a square. We have to strike now."

"Or innocents will pay the price." Said Burn. "Denny told us you would be able to help here, Arthur."

Arthur nodded. "I know a way into the Underground, but it's not optimal. There is a statue of the Cybeasts in the Undernet. Apparently they used to be close to the front, but after the beasts were deleted it moved to the back for some reason. Not sure why. But if a Navi kneels in front of that statue, it will transport them to the Underground, and heavily damage them- but when Treble tested it, he was fine, which suggests that Gregar and Flare could do it too."

"...What about Alias?" Said Ethan. "It's dangerous to go alone."

"Two beasts can handle this." Said Chaud. "If you find a way to get Alias in safely, then he's your navi and you are responsible for him. I'm assigning Blaze, Arthur and Burn to help you for this, and make sure the Cybeasts reach the Underground with full energy."

Lan piped up. "Oh, Ethan. I had this made for you. The rest of us officials need to handle something else that's pretty important now, and we'll explain it to you later. I'd have liked to take down that virus, but I know you can beat it, and I can make sure nothing interrupts your fight. Good luck, and we're all behind you!" He passed Ethan a chip.

Ethan nearly did a triple take. " _This_ chip?!"

"It's not as strong as the real thing." Said Lan. "But hey, I had to give you something for beating MegaMan! We'll have a rematch one day when I'm available!"

Ethan nodded. "I'll use this power well." Arthur saw the description from the corner of his eye. 'Blend special DNA with navi'

Arthur looked to the row of computers. "Okay, let's waste no time."

Chaud, for a second, looked a touch less stern. Possibly his equivalent of approval. "We'll leave you to it. Lan, Wily, with me." He left the room.

Ethan looked around. "...This is it. The last fight before Gregar and Falzar have been redeemed."

Arthur held up a hand. "One moment. I have to say this now. To get the location, I made a deal with Crescendo. Bass is currently disabled by Falzar's power inside him. I promised to talk to Flare about getting it out. So, fair warning: If Crescendo turns up, don't attack him- Oh, Eureka!" Arthur lit up. "We CAN get Alias into the Underground! He can borrow Crescendo's cloak."

"Nice plan." Said Burn. "Everyone, jack in and group up. Arthur, contact Crescendo now."

Arthur started typing an email. 'Crescendo, have Falzar here. Come now, need to talk.'

Almost instantly, a portal formed in front of the assembled navis. Crescendo stepped out. "Falzar?"

"Here." Said Flare. "...You're Bass's friend."

Crescendo nodded. "I need you to heal him."

Flare looked conflicted. "I don't know if I'm able to. And even so... he's the one who put us in this mess. His attack was what created all those beast viruses."

"...Please." Said Crescendo.

Alias stepped forwards. "We all have our fair share of grudges against Bass. But maybe we could make a deal?"

Flare nodded. "If you'll take Alias into the Underground for us, I'll try my hardest to cure him."

Crescendo placed a hand over his chest. "It will be done. Before you ask, though- this cloak uses a lot of energy. I won't be able to take anyone else in. Do you want me to help you fight? I can make sure that virus stays deleted."

"Yes. You land the finishing blow." Said Gregar. "But we'll do the hard part."

"Okay. I'll come with you for now." Said Crescendo.

"Navis, it's time to roll out." Said SteamMan. "Ember, Treble. Our job is to make sure nothing even gets near to Gregar and Falzar before they reach the Underground."

"Got it" Said Ember. "They won't get past me."

"I'll be your shield!" Offered Treble.

"Then let's go."

The small group walked out.

 **Author's notes: Did anybody notice Gregar's electricity attack is literally the Thunder Beam from MM1? It has the exact same shape, and the high damage. I am aware that Treble can't actually use the Flare SP chip, but still. Minor change: increased the injuries Flare and Gregar suffered.**

 **Reviewer answers! (Huzzah!)**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007:_ I based my interpretation of Hub's form on my vague memory of the manga, where it had streams of glowing pixels. I thought the four DNA letters were a bit more thematic. I also removed his helmet because that traditionally accompanies halved health in Mega man games, and you see him without it in the HubBatch chip. Are these the personalities you were looking for?**

 **WanderingAnon: Aww, thanks. I hope you enjoy being back in the fanbase. Reviews from randoms always pick me up. Hope I don't disappoint with this chapter!**


	33. Chapter 33: Redemption

It was a strange procession through the network. Two beings that were feared as gods of destruction, a pair of cops who happened to be siblings, a navi who'd grown from relatively small power to matching the aforementioned gods in the space of a few weeks, and the result of a bunch of glitches getting fused together. All in all: Unstoppable. At no point in the regular net did Alias have to bat an eye at the nearby viruses, because they were very rarely even nearby before they were deleted. Treble was eager to transform, but it wasn't necessary. Between him and Ember they had enough speed to make a defensive bubble, and anything that somehow slipped through that could expect a fistful of pure steam force directly to the face.

They kept on, passing along a safe road for a bit. "...I'd say this is too easy, but I think we might just be too powerful for this area." Said Ember.

"I'd be worried if we weren't." Said Gregar. "It's the Undernet where things get fun."

"Yeah. Are you okay, Crescendo? You've barely made a sound." Said Ember, looking back.

Crescendo's eyes shifted around. "...I'm not used to crowds."

"That's kind of adorable." Said Ember, smiling. "You should explore a bit more! You seem to have been kind of secluded with Bass."

"...Maybe." Said Crescendo.

"Hey guys, there's the Undernet! Race you there!" Said Treble, pointing ahead.

"Treble." Said Arthur sternly. "You mustn't split up with the group, especially if you're escorting them."

"Okay, dad. Maybe next time." Said Treble. "Flare, how are you now?"

"I'm feeling good." Said Flare. "...I feel at peace. And stronger than ever."

"That's great! I'll keep you safe now, when we go in." Said Treble.

* * *

They kept walking, and went into the Undernet. Viruses attacked a little more, but SteamMan was able to repel them easily.

Gregar looked ahead, and his tail made a disapproving swish. "...Not those guys." He grumbled.

"Huh? Who? I won't let them close!" Said Treble, moving to the front.

"Cultists." Said Gregar. "Special request, actually. Let them close. Flare, come here."

"What are you planning?" Said Flare, stepping to the front of the group.

"Let's give them a bit of a shock. Or possibly delete them. Nobody's going to be too upset to see them go." Said Gregar.

Ember raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I remember those guys, from when you were trapped in MegaMan. I thought they fell apart though?"

"A couple of hardcore ones were left." Said Gregar. "Now, stand back. Flare, as soon as they chant..."

A band of black-robed navis shuffled forwards quickly. Gregar and Flare stood at the front of the group, staring them down. The cultist leader came up and pulled down their hood. "OuR gOdS rEtUrN!" He warbled. "ThE gReAt PuRgE cOmEs! ThE dAwN oF a NeW eRa!"

The other cultists raised their arms. "UUUUUU-LAAAAAAAA!"

"Yeah, no." Murmured Alias.

There was a roar and a screech as two cybeasts filled up the entire area. The cultist leader grinned for a breif moment until there was a sudden 'wham' as CB-Gregar's jaws closed around him with tremendous speed and force. It was an amazingly clean deletion, eating him in one bite. Gregar shook his head a tiny bit then spat the leader's helmet with remarkable accuracy, and it clattered to the floor in front of the other cultists.

"GET LOST." Said CB-Gregar.

The cultists hesitated for a second, and then a huge feather impaled the helmet, nailing it to the floor until it dissolved. "AND STAY LOST." Added CB-Flare.

The cultists ran. Gregar chuckled a bit, his now much deeper voice making the sound resonate. "IDIOTS. THEY'LL PROBABLY BE BACK."

Treble looked up. "Arthur, transform me! Nobody would dare mess with all three of us transformed."

"...Fair enough." Said Arthur. "Here you go, ElementBreath, BugCharge, and VariableSword."

There was a short whoosh as Treble also transformed. "HEY, NOT OFTEN THERE'S ANYONE ELSE THIS SIZE!"

SteamMan looked up. "...I feel smaller than normal."

"LET'S KEEP GOING." Said Gregar. "THOSE CULTISTS DON'T DESERVE TO BE ABLE TO SAY THEY SLOWED US DOWN."

They continued on, as Arthur panned the camera around to keep an eye on Alias. While the navis kept spirits high, he was thinking, analysing to try and help them. "...Treble, move to the front. Burn, can SteamMan bring up the rear? And Ember, Alias. Is it possible to stand on Gregar? He's a good vantage point, and Alias will be safe from viruses up there."

Ethan nodded. "Yeah, good plan. As long as touching Gregar won't bug them out."

Gregar lowered his body. "SHOULD BE SAFE. CLIMB ON QUICK." Alias jumped up, Ember scrambled on. SteamMan fell to the group's behind, warding away any kind of sneak attack. They kept moving, and as expected nothing was quite bold enough to attack them.

Ember got bored of sitting around quickly. "...Hey Gregar?"

"YES?"

Ember looked at the back of his frill with a smile that couldn't be restrained. "Can I pet you?"

"I'M ONE OF THE MOST FEARED BEINGS ON THE NET. WE CLASHED IN CYBER CITY. YOU JUST SAW ME EAT A NAVI. AND YOU WANT TO PET ME."

"In a nutshell. I'm kind of curious what your head feels like, outside normal petting stuff." Said Ember.

"NO." Said Gregar. "YOU'RE LUCKY I'M LETTING YOU RIDE."

"YOU CAN PET ME!" Said Treble, from the front. "PET ME! PET ME!"

"I can't, my hand would get bugged." Said Ember. "Ten out of ten for enthusiasm though."

"I COULD PET YOU LATER." Said Flare from above. "I'M IMMUNE."

"And I could ask William to lend us BugStop Plus." Said Arthur. "Anyone could pet you with that." He had a fleeting thought that they were getting sidetracked by conversation before a big fight, but realised this conversation was probably lifting everyone's spirits.

Ethan set out his chips. "Who's William?"

"Oh, he's one of my friends. He operates ArsenalMan."

"Ah yes, ArsenalMan." Said Ethan. "Not the strongest, but still good. We should have netbattles between our two groups of friends. Some kind of fight club, maybe?"

"A fight club sounds pretty cool, actually!" Said Arthur. "But where would we hold it?"

"Why not here, at Scilabs?" Said Blaze. "It's nice and central on the net."

"...Good idea." Said Arthur.

Treble called. "I SEE THE STATUE. IT'S SURROUNDED BY EVILSPIRITS!"

Ember jumped down from Gregar's back. "And that's why we're here! We'll handle them, you four can go in full of energy."

SteamMan made his way forwards. "Treble, we'll engage when you do."

Arthur got his chips ready. "One thought- Treble, your soul energy stuff. Can you maybe empower Ethan's team before they go in?"

"I'M NOT VERY GOOD WITH IT, BUT I'LL DO WHAT I CAN!" Said Treble. "CHIPS?"

Arthur picked out a few. "Hmm... AreaSteal, UnifyCode, CornShot2, FireBurn2. Warp in and get their attention. There aren't enough to swarm you down like before, so go wild."

"OHHH YES!" Said Treble, before disappearing and reappearing in the middle of the crowd of EvilSpirits. They immediately turned to attack him, but he was too armored, and they were honestly too stupid. Treble took a deep breath and blew a wave of green fire over the ones in front of him, before crushing another one down and then roasting another swathe with regular old fire-element fire. A couple swiped at his mouth, but for the most part he was crushing them.

"Now Ember! AirHockey, CustomSword, MoonBlade!" Said Blaze.

"JusticeOne! MetalStage!" Said Burn.

SteamMan and Ember charged, taking advantage of the fact the EvilSpirits were distracted by Treble. Ember's blades whizzed past his side, cutting down a few EvilSpirits as they attempted to claw at her in surprise, while SteamMan slam-dunked one into the abyss below the walkways. Ember released the AirHockey as Treble swiped away another few spirits, clearly enjoying himself a lot.

A giant fist appeared in the sky for a second before rocketing down and smashing three more spirits to a pulp, and going straight on through the floor. SteamMan raised one hand and metal rolled out to fix the damage.

"Having fun, huh?" Said Arthur. "Here, take an AirHockey."

"YA-HOOO!" Treble launched his head as a huge drill, boring away part of the last line of EvilSpirits, and then Ember wrapped up the fight with CustomSword.

"Easy enough." Said Ember. "They might have been more of a problem if it was just one Navi."

"We all did take a little bit of damage." Said SteamMan. "Now, it's time for the cybeasts. Your path is clear."

Gregar looked at the statues. Flare landed next to him. "CRESCENDO? GET YOUR PORTAL READY."

"HEY, ONE SECOND!" Said Treble. He sat, and bowed his head. There was a flicker of purple energy around him, and it grew a bit stronger, to a small energy field before flying off into Gregar and Flare. Treble slumped a bit. "WHEW... YOU'RE POWERED UP! GET IN THERE!"

"THANKS." Said Gregar. "ETHAN, WE'RE GOING IN NOW."

"TREBLE, I'LL SEE YOU SOON." Said Flare. "...THANKS FOR THE BOOST."

"ON THREE. ONE, TWO, THREE..." Said Gregar, sitting before the statue of himself. Flare closed her eyes. Without warning, they disappeared.

"Go, Alias!" Said Ethan.

Crescendo waved his cloak around, and then he and Alias both disappeared.

Treble was left alone with Ember and SteamMan.

Arthur looked to Ethan and Blaze. "Well, we should try and be proactive. Any signs of more EvilSpirits?"

Burn tapped a few commands into his PET. "Not right now. Let's just watch Ethan for a bit. You jack Treble out and restore his stamina."

"Treble, back for a moment." Said Arthur.

They looked over to Ethan's screen. It was black, but started to brighten to reveal the Underground. Gregar and Flare stood next to each other in navi form, looking over the area carefully. A portal opened next to them and Alias then Crescendo stepped out.

"...It's where we were chained. I sense it." Said Gregar. "Alias, stay close. The viruses here recognise me and Flare as... predators, but not you."

It was eerily quiet. Arthur could see many viruses at the side, but they were all staying back from Gregar, obviously afraid of him and Flare, even without their true forms showing.

Alias looked around, wary. "You lived in this place?"

"It was our home and our prison." Said Flare. "...I didn't want to see it again. I'll collapse it later, if I can."

"..." Crescendo looked forwards, at a huge chunk of damaged floor. He appeared to lose himself in thoughts for a moment, before staring at Gregar.

They continued on.

The silence shattered, with a great 'WHOOSH'. Gregar scowled and had his buster up in a flash. Flare and Alias followed suit. The ground rumbled, and then there was a crackle as a bit of ghost data appeared.

"What the-" Said Gregar. The ghost resembled him perfectly, save for the face and emblem. The mouth was open like a carving, and the emblem was MegaMan's. It wasn't attacking, but it was poised to.

Crescendo looked on in surprise. "...It's just data fragments in your shape. It has no will of it's own. Bass made it, I remember he told me."

"It's a bad fake." Said Gregar. "And unless it gets out of the way, I'll destroy it."

The ghostly GBeast looked back to the area behind it. Then it flickered and reappeared on the huge stone platform, in the distance. Simply standing there.

"Is that platform the one you were chained to?" Said Alias.

Flare nodded. "...I died there. Let's get this over with. I don't like this place."

"You hate it." Said Alias. "You don't need to dance around it for us."

"Stay focused." Said Gregar. "Flare? We'll tear this place down together when we're done."

"...Ethan, there's a lot of power coming from that stone. It's going to mess with our connections to the PET if we get closer. Some programs might not work, but battle should be fine." Said Alias.

Ethan checked through his menus. "...I'm ready. Let's show that joker what real cybeasts can do."

"Crescendo, you should wait there for now." Said Burn. "Above all, you need to be in fighting shape at the end of this fight. Nobody wants this virus coming back."

"I copy." Said Crescendo. "Normal viruses can't bother me, so don't worry about me."

Alias walked forwards, Flare beside him. All three of Ethan's team were standing side by side, tall and strong.

There was a rumble. Alias looked at the stone. The ghost was gone, and now there was something about it. The air itself was heavy. Gregar growled at it openly. Alias took out his buster. "Virus! I've learned from the world's mistakes. I won't jump to a conclusion. You've attacked us, and I haven't forgotten that. But if you have a mind- speak now. I won't put you through the hell Gregar suffered because nobody checked if he had a mind."

The rumbling intensified. There was a chorus of whispers in the air, frantic. Nobody could understand any, until they coalesced into one coherent sentence. "Delete all navis. Corrupt all data. We are viruses."

"...Sorry." Said Alias, raising his buster. "Although that means nothing to you."

With an almighty crash, the top layer of the stone shattered, and a virus was revealed. It sprung out, uncoiling a giant body like a tree trunk, with a head that was one giant eyeball. Uncountable tendrils of a liquid-like sludge branched off the 'tree', thrashing around, length shifting like a mirage. And it all burned, fire wreathing the bark, leaping from every tendril and in the pupil of the eye. The eye looked down with comtempt, and the whispers coalesced once more. "Death to the... Officials... I will have my revenge... Die... Delete... Undo... Corrupt... Die. Delete. Undo. Corrupt. Die! Delete! Undo! Corrupt!"

Gregar and Flare looked up in fury. "Ethan. On your mark." Said Flare, wings spread.

Ethan nodded, and began to focus. "Time to make history! Team, let's ride!"

A death beam burned into the floor where they'd been standing mere moments ago. Arthur instantly struggled to keep track of all three, but Ethan didn't flinch at all, apparently tracking flawlessly.

"Alias, LifeSword advance. Gregar, DoublePoint, SuperVulcan, WhiteCapsule. Flare, RockCube, IceSeed, TrainArrow3." Said Ethan, emotions lowering to null.

Arthur saw Alias get in close, and narrowly dodge a swipe from a flaming tendril by cutting right through, the LifeSword reaching to hit the tree. Immediately, there was a blast of water from somewhere above, and Alias only just evaded.

Flare suddenly appeared on high, and tossed the IceSeed, making a frozen patch over the eye. She glided down a little, and fired a stream of enormous arrows into the eye. It should have destroyed it by all means, but only made a larger frozen patch.

There was the sound of blazing gunfire from somewhere, and then part of the tree near the centre was splintered away, the tendrils near it stiffening. Arthur realised this virus was going to be obliterated at that rate, but then had to divert his attention.

"EvilSpirits." Said Blaze. Arthur took a look at her monitor and saw the cybeast statues starting to exude the spirits. "Go protect Central Area! We've got the Undernet!"

"Treble, hunt!" Said Arthur.

Treble appeared and started running. "On it!"

* * *

Treble skidded onto the scene to see Zero and Midnight already trying to hold back a surprise invasion. A lot of other navis were around, being overwhelmed quickly. Treble ripped one in half with an attack to the back, and leapt onto another one before it could delete a vulnerable navi.

"AreaSteals, both in. Protect the vulnerable! Destroy the EvilSpirits!" Commanded Arthur. It had only been maybe thirty seconds since Ethan started the fight, and all four NetOps in the room were in life-and-deletion combat.

"Gregar, transform! Sending Cursor chips, use your TailGatling! Alias, F-Carving now! WideSword and LongSword, progress to SP Durandal! Flare, Dash, MachineGun3!" Ethan was actually doing it. Simultaneously operating THREE navis... and still getting his synchro technique ready.

Treble felt Gregar's power below him, and so did the other Navis in the square. They were just about finishing with the wave of EvilSpirits, and the damaged navis were logging out. The ones left looked around in panic. Treble walked over to the centre. "Arthur, the Underground is below here. How strong is this floor?"

"I don't know. Evacuate this square, and be ready to contain another wave of EvilSpirits." Said Arthur.

"Everyone! Get out! It's not safe here!" Yelled Treble.

A handful of navis obeyed, but nearly half stayed. One generic navi looked up and said. "We live in this net too. We'll defend it!"

Ethan was still frantically putting in chips, his hands never still. "Flare, transform and protect Alias with these Aqua chips! Gregar, get in close and keep it distracted with X-Impact! Alias, we'll hit it with the Eclipse Cannon! This time it isn't ready to defend itself!"

Back up in Central area, there was a slight tremble as Flare's power started coming through the floor. A new wave of EvilSpirits began to materialise.

"FireBurn2, Thunder, LongBlade in!"

In mere seconds, it was chaos. One moment Treble was back-to-back with Zero, then another he was driving the LongBlade through a spirit that was getting too close to an everyday navi, and then he turned, spirit talons an inch from his face suddenly dissipating to reveal...

"SheepMan?! I thought you hated me?"

"I do. Flare doesn't." Said SheepMan, putting away a LongSword.

They didn't have a second to talk, as Treble tackled SheepMan out of the way of a spirit strike, biting down and deleting the offending virus. And then they were apart, the chaotic fighting resuming.

A few minutes later, Arthur glanced over to Ethan's screen as Treble mopped up the last of the wave. CB-Gregar and CB-Flare were fighting in tandem to deliver one hell of a beatdown, while Alias hovered in the air, charging an attack. Gregar and Flare were taking damage, and Alias could see every wound. Arthur could feel his protective rage from here. And yet he still had all the focus of a navi in full synchro.

"Mind clear. Your emotions are shared." Said Ethan. "Alias... **EclipseCannon!"**

The red sun and blue moon satellites appeared, and now Arthur could fully appreciate the attack. A Midnight chip was empowering the blue moon, and it thrummed with lunar energy in response to her data. But the red sun was driven by Amaterasu's chip data, burning with sacred light. Flare suddenly felt the attack readied, and dropped out of the way.

Alias fired the full synchro, anger-boosted progression attack. There was a cosmic barrage of meteors, glowing almost golden with heat, and a mystical blue ray with the majesty of the starry skies in every byte. They touched at Alias's hands, and combined into a ball briefly, before Alias directed the celestial wrath forwards, the enormous beam going straight through the virus this time, cutting the trunk in half and moving up, eventually boring a hole through the eye. The ruins collapsed to a heap.

Alias' carving disappeared, and he fell out of the sky. Flare snatched him with her talons, and brought him to a softer landing, while Crescendo ran up.

"Now!" Said Ethan.

But the ghost data of the GBeast suddenly appeared in front of Crescendo, and struck him with its claws. Crescendo didn't seem hurt, but he flinched for a second. And that was all it needed to turn to the virus. It disappeared, and then there was a rumble.

"IT DIDN'T JUST..." Said Gregar in horror.

Arthur saw the virus suddenly renew. Not just renew. More like... some kind of twisted evolution. The crumpled body rose up, showing off where the EclipseCannon had removed a giant vertical line. The eye went completely black once again, and then to Arthur's disgust another two smaller ones appeared either side, encased by a gelatinous black sludge. The sludge spread and spread, quickly draping the whole body, and then it began to churn, shards of wood mixing throughout the now snake-like body. The previous tendrils concentrated into two giant ones, and the end of those began to spew fire. The beast made a tremendous gurgling sound, like a million blocked drains on crack. It shot the two tendrils upwards.

There was a creaking sound.

"Arthur, we've got a problem!" Yelled Treble. Arthur looked over to see the middle of Central area sagging.

"Ethan, destroy those arms!" Urged Arthur.

Alias shakily got up, then collapsed to one knee. "...It's no use. I'm out of power after the EclipseCannon."

"WE GOT THIS." Said Gregar, wounded all over. "YOU'RE NOT ALONE."

Flare was no better for health. "ALIAS... TIME FOR YOU TO BE THE HERO."

The two cybeasts shone, and faded into huge masses of soul energy for a second before flowing into Alias. His colouring turned to pure white and the super beast armor encased him, as the Ciel system allowed Alias's limits to temporarily disappear.

Ethan looked at the readouts on his PET. "...Stability is higher than normal, so is output. But computer use is lower... Grezar, attack the arms!"

Grezar left the floor at terminal velocity, the white wings providing more thrust than a jet engine. He soared up to strike at one of the arms, and in one blow he took a huge chunk out of the fetid slime, the data spattering to the floor while deleting. Grezar circled and swiped at the other arm, but the slime from the body had already moved to reform the first arm.

" **HubBatch giga chip- Go!"** Said Ethan.

Grezar suddenly took on a light-blue tinge, and soared around to the front of the beast with his buster loaded. In a tremendous blast, he let loose the strongest buster attack seen in the cyberworld, the HubBatch's power boost greatly amplifying Grezar's might. The tide of damage crashed into the virus, tearing away huge swathes of the front, but then there was a slam, and Treble shouted. "It's coming down!"

The floor of Central area actually wasn't coming down. The Underground was coming up. In a reversal of the damage Gregar and Falzar did years ago, the entire area suddenly had the Underground slammed right through it, sending the floor everywhere. Treble knocked away a bit of debris to see the LifeBeast surge up, Grezar following. They clashed a few more times, and then the LifeBeast started to attack.

Arrays of the black sludge fired off, sizzling against Grezar's aura. The two arms swung round like wrecking balls, one narrowly missing and the other scoring a direct hit and stopping dead. Ethan smirked.

" **Break chip, Wind chip. ShatteringImpact, SilverWind!"** Said Ethan.

There was a boom as the arm was thrown away, gunk flying everywhere. And in a flash, Grezar threw a flurry of arcs at the LifeBeast, but then it made its next move. All three eyes glowed, and shot lasers to a point. The amplified death beam wasn't aimed well, it was aimed over a wide area, and Grezar's aura went out. Another salvo of sludge fired off, and then the LifeBeast slammed down its remaining arm to cut off Grezar's area to manoeuvre. A few spots hit, but compared to Hub's wrath it was nothing.

Treble looked up at the fight. "We have to help!"

"Yes. Here's your advance. If Grezar gets knocked out of the air, cover them." Said Arthur, slotting in the chips.

" **Sword chip, convert to TrueBlade!"**

Grezar zipped in brandishing the rod of white energy, and slashed at the huge eye as hard as it could. The LifeBeast reeled back, and slumped over. Grezar shot down, prepared to drive the blade into the eye, when the momentary ploy was revealed. The LifeBeast sprung back up, engulfing Grezar in its huge sticky mass. There was a red glow like lava, and Ethan gasped in shock.

And then GS-Treble was attacking, huge claws swiping at the red spot and Junk Flyer pummeling everywhere else. Arthur took out a select few chips. "Wind chip! Convert to... Junk Storm!" He read the attack from his screen. Junk Flyer got faster, air cones forming around the barrage of debris. With a determined bite, Treble scratched the red glow, and the LifeBeast suddenly got chest-bursted by Grezar.

Grezar was angry, to say the least. And Ethan was sharing that emotion. " **LaserRay!"**

The beam went right through, the sludge disintegrating at it's touch. The LifeBeast was starting to wither, and desperately used the remaining arm to punch at GS-Treble, the easier target. Treble was forced back, dropping his centre of mass for stability, and clamped his jaws down on the end. It blasted fire down his throat, the flames gushing out from the sides of Treble's mouth, but he held the arm firm for the moment ne needed to. Grezar went through the arm like a bullet, severing it entirely. It flopped to the ground uselessly, and began to dissolve. The LifeBeast gurgled in rage, and suddenly its body disappeared, all surrounding the eyes. Two blobs separated, and formed into fists.

Grezar dodged like MegaMan himself, and threw a SilverWind into one fist, every drop of sludge now mattering. The LifeBeast fired another laser, and Grezar dodged, and clawed out one of the eyes, finally harming that glare. Then it socked Grezar, and finally a little low on energy Grezar was sent back a little. It fired a barrage of blobs, and Grezar raised Reflect, thanks to HubBatch.

"...Program advance, Treble. VanishingWorld." Said Arthur.

"FINALLY! I'VE BEEN WAITING TO USE THAT AGAIN!" Treble stood steady, starting to charge the attack.

The LifeBeast was attacking in desperation, trying to knock Treble out of the charge, but Grezar intercepted one fist with a ShatteringImpact- then the other one slammed them, and Grezar went spiraling to the side, off-balance for a moment. The LifeBeast was about to follow up, when suddenly BOTH fists were destroyed as it was finally caught off-guard. A huge missile crashed into one with a giant explosion, vaporising it, and two slightly smaller fists of metal went through the other, in two hook swings- that splattered it into nothingness without the usual degree of damage resistance it displayed.

Ember and SteamMan stood at the entrance to the area, having used OmegaRocket and BigHook respectively.

"Just in time!" Said Ember. "Attack now, while it's weak!"

" **Destroy!"** Arthur meant it. He meant it with all his heart, and that resonated with Treble genuinely.

 **"AAAAAAARR!"** Shouted Treble, as he fired VanishingWorld, the huge blast whiting out Arthur's vision. In full synchro, it packed enough punch to bring down nearly anything.

The LifeBeast's sludge was blown off the main body, leaving only the eyes attached to a tumor-like body. It shuddered in the air, and started to charge an attack.

" **Full power!"** Shouted Ethan and Grezar.

Grezar dropped to the ground and spread its wings, charging its own attack. Then Grezar launched torwards the floating eyes faster than Arthur could follow. And then time seemed to slow. All Arthur knew was there was a hole in the other side's eye, straight through the LifeBeast. And impossibly fast, Grezar slammed it from behind, and burst out the front, destroying the last eye.

The virus started to fall out of the air. Grezar turned, and caught it with one had. " **Now, Crescendo! Finish this!"**

Crescendo leapt out from the Underground's hole, buster ready. "ERASURE! BUSTER!" He pointed the gun forwards, and shot one pellet. It nailed the deformed mass, and that was when it stopped being a normal buster pellet. There was a shine as streams of code began to fly out, disassembling themselves systematically and permanently. The virus writhed, but it was already over. It was dissolving, and let out a banshee scream in its death throes, before the erasure hit its sound files and silenced it. And after five long seconds, it was gone.

There was a breeze of data, and then Grezar separated into three navis. Alias fell to the ground. Gregar sat down. Flare sank to her hands and knees.

"Nice going..." Whispered Alias from the floor. "Fist... bump?" He moved one arm out to the side, and left it lying on the floor.

Gregar lay down next to him. "Fist bump." He weakly brought out his own arm and bumped. "Yeaahh."

Treble shrank back to normal. "That... was awesome." He panted, walking over towards Flare with his mouth glowing blue.

Flare lay on top of Gregar, using her brother like an oversized cushion. "That's all. We've... cleared up everything that's our fault."

Treble came and sat down next to her, leaning against Gregar. It was probably a good thing he was too tired to care. "Hey Flare. You were great out there."

SheepMan came running over. "Lady Flare! Excellent show!"

"Good form, Alias." Midnight.

Zero. "Well done, little brother."

Crescendo came over and sat crosslegged. "...You won."

Ember skated up. "Holy macaroni, that was something. You alright down there Gregar?"

"Never better." Said Gregar, muffled by the floor.

A few civilian navis came over too. Most had logged out, but a couple had been bystanders. "Hey, those guys did it! They deleted that virus!" Said one.

"Heroes!" Said another.

"They look kind of familiar..." Said a third. "Gregar and Falzar?"

"Really?"

"No way..."

Flare shifted awkwardly. "...It's true. But we're sorry about everything we did last time. Alias showed us right and wrong."

The navis looked to each other. "Can we have your emails?"

"Yeah!"

"Race you to make a BBS post! Credit goes to meeee!" Shouted one, running off.

"Hey!"

"Sneak!" The other two civilians ran after them.

Gregar rolled over, making Flare and Treble sit up. He looked around groggily. "...Oh, bytes..." He saw the fact Central Area was now a giant mess. Extra giant. With a sprinkle of strong viruses.

Ethan noticed too. "Sorry about Central Area." He said to Blaze.

"No harm done. Actually, once we clean it up it'll be bigger, right?" Said Blaze optimistically.

"Let's jack our navis out for now." Said Arthur. "They all need healing. We can worry about Central Area later."

"Yeah. Jack out, everyone." Said Ethan.

"Back, Treble."

"Ember's fine. Me and SteamMan will keep things under control here."

"I'll start clearing out this debris. Other areas will be blocked off otherwise." Said SteamMan. "...And we'll need a new floor."

Ethan got the navis back into the PETs. "That's it, everyone! We've done it! You're totally cleared!"

Arthur looked around the room. "...We make a pretty great team."

"You're right. We ought to meet up more often." Said Ethan.

"Wanna join team Aviators?" Said Blaze.

"...Sure." Said Arthur.

"Well, if there's one official I can trust then it's you." Said Ethan. "...Although I don't really want to answer to Chaud. But can we keep in touch if I don't join?"

"Of course!" Said Blaze.

Treble piped up. "Hey, let's all have a netbattle tournament sometime!"

"Maybe a few days of relaxation." Arthur suddenly remembered. Eurasia was still out there. "But we might not have the luxury. Ethan?"

"You ok? You suddenly look like you remembered something bad." Said Ethan.

"...There are other threats on the horizon." Said Arthur. "You deserve a little time off, so don't worry about them for now- the officials will keep them off your back. But I'll need a hand with some stuff when that time off is over?"

"Sure." Said Ethan. "I trust you enough. Maybe not the best thing to know when you're trying to relax, but better than getting caught short... Well then. Let's go tell the bigshots the good news."

* * *

Chaud nodded, as Arthur gave a report. Ethan confirmed bits occasionally. Eventually, Arthur finished.

"...Well done." Said Chaud. "Ethan? Consider the beasts fully pardoned. We'll mail you some ID documents tomorrow. For now... Arthur is right. BOTH of you could use some downtime. I'll see that your areas remain as secure as possible."

"...Could Blaze have some time off with us?" Said Arthur.

Chaud sighed. "Alright. Enjoy your break. And Ethan?"

"Yes?" Ethan's voice was empty. It was obvious there was something between him and Chaud, but he was at least civil about it.

"IPC would like to make a business offer to your family. We're always interested in hiring people as mechanically skilled as you and your uncle."

Ethan gave an 'Are you kidding' look. "You're pushing it there." He said dryly.

"Well, read this while you're free." Chaud sent a document to Alias' PET.

Ethan skimmed it, and raised an eyebrow. "...Hm. Goodbye for now, Chaud. See you when I get called."

They walked out of the office. It had been a long, long day.

 **Author's notes: And that is the end of the Cybeast-centric arc. We'll be moving on to Eurasia next, after an interlude. In which there shall be fluff! And other things.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RandyPandy: It's a delicate balance, trying to have enough stuff going on to keep things interesting but not so much as to be overwhelming. One I've upset a few times tbh. Crescendo's role is about to step up in a big way, let me tell you.**

 _ **JANEVALENTINE007:**_ **Whew, good to know I got them right. It's always tough to make sure each character is unique.**


	34. Chapter 34: Wounds closed

Arthur slowly sat up in his bed. He'd gotten home late yesterday, the constant battles having stretched from dawn until dusk. "Good morning, Treble." He said softly.

"Morning Arthur! We're free! On holiday for reals! What should we do?!" Said Treble.

"Well... first, we need to uphold our deal with Crescendo." Said Arthur. "Then we'll go see everyone."

"Aw, okay- wait, that means we'll get to see Flare! Let's do it!" Called Treble. "Send me in!"

"One second, let me change."

* * *

"So, let's go and get Flare, then we'll go to Bass'." Said Arthur. "I hope Crescendo's not too mad we didn't do it immediately, but everyone was completely exhausted yesterday. We had to rest."

"It'll be fine! Everyone makes more mistakes when they're tired, so we should have rested if we could! Bass was in bad shape, but he could last another few weeks. Hey, can't we just call for Crescendo to teleport us there?"

"A. He probably can't hear you all the way over in the Undernet. And B, that cloak could only take two. With Flare, we have three... thanks for the support, though. Leaving Bass to wait when he's dying? ...the more I consider it, the more I'm horrified with myself. Even if I don't like him."

"Ah well! Let's go!" Said Treble, jogging off. "Come on! If there's something you showed me, it's that you apologize by fixing things! Not talking about them!"

"...I can't argue." Said Arthur. "We're not counting talking things out as 'talking about them' though, are we? Because that worked pretty well for Gregar."

"I'd say it was that Alpha memory more than diplomatic skill. But you did get him the time he needed!"

"Yeah, I guess... So. After this, we'll have free time, for once. It's just been one thing after another for these last few weeks. I don't know what to do with it."

"...I'm close to hitting 1250 health. I'll be fully grown at 1500. I wonder what the other two chips I'll cough up are going to be?" Said Treble. "Ooh, and if I'll get to transform at will like Flare and Gregar! That would be cool!"

"It would definitely open up a lot more options for us to use different Giga chips. I never got around to using that BugRiseSword. And the Giga chip of you just... well, why use that when I've got the real thing, I guess?"

"We should trade it to someone for a better chip!" Said Treble. "Like... OH! I know who I want to trade it to!"

"...Flare." Said Arthur certainly.

"How'd you guess?!"

"I know that tone of voice. You have a specific one when you're thinking about her. Anyway, we'll talk to her about it later."

* * *

Treble stepped up to Alias' security cube and gave the buzzer a push. "Flare? We need to go heal Bass!"

The cube unlocked, and SheepMan stepped out. "She'll be along in a moment." He frowned. "If I may ask... why would you heal Bass? Or even help him?"

"Oh, we promised to in exchange for Crescendo's help." Said Treble. "Sure, it makes sense to just let him die in terms of our own safety, but... I don't want to break a promise. Honestly, I don't even really hate him. He didn't manage to do any permanent damage."

SheepMan shrugged. "Thinking criminals are worthy of mercy is going to get you in trouble one day. Not that I'm complaining."

"..." Treble was considering saying something about the fact SheepMan wasn't being as openly bitter to him as normal, but in trying to find the right words realised that he probably shouldn't say anything about that. Best to leave that wound closed. "How've things been here?" He said, settling on the most general question in the world.

SheepMan looked around. "...Better. Everyone's had a good night's sleep. I'll need to wait in for our ID documents to arrive, now that us three aren't wanted. And my bank accounts are getting unfrozen, which is nice. Maybe I'll book everyone a night at a hotel."

"Nice."

There was an awkward pause. Flare stepped out from the computer's link. "Treble! Sorry I took so long, Ethan was downstairs. Let's go!" She hovered off the floor a bit.

"Bye SheepMan!" Called Treble.

"...Goodbye."

They walked away a bit, before Arthur said "Hey, could Flare transform and give you a lift? It would probably be faster. You can jump over some gaps when you're transformed, but she can literally fly."

"Hey Flare? Did you get that?" Said Treble.

Ethan's voice could be heard. "I don't think we should make the Undernet our test flight for that. It would be kind of bad if Treble fell off."

"...True. We'll be the ones to transform, then. I don't particularly want to deal with the stupid maze down there."

"Oh, the maze." Groaned Ethan. "You have no idea how much we hate whoever made it that way."

"That one bit with all those floors that move your navi automatically, right?"

"They can burn." Said Ethan. "...Anyway, sorry I didn't send Alias and Gregar to back you up, but they're out running a few errands. We needed to get that document from Chaud to my Uncle, and Gregar needed to go back to Central area to make sure there were no traces of the LifeBeast."

"It'll be fine! Bass wouldn't attack us now." Said Treble.

"And even if he does, I'm in good hands." Said Flare.

* * *

GS-Treble walked up to Bass' security cube, and shrunk back to normal. Flare gently touched down on the floor, wings slowing her descent. Treble gave the buzzer a push, and it unlocked almost instantly. They went in to see Crescendo.

"At last." Said Crescendo. "I was worried you weren't coming!"

"...Sorry about that." Said Arthur. "Everyone needed to rest, to make sure we did this right."

Crescendo nodded, and stepped away from the pile of cloaks. "...Falzar, please. Please save him."

Flare walked over, with an almost seraphic air about her. She knelt and placed a hand on Bass' forehead. "The power within him has reached almost seventy percent, and it's been draining his strength for weeks. I can delete it quite easily, but I will... need a guarantee of trust."

"Trust? What for? I helped you!"

Flare nodded. "Well, my memory will be in Bass' hands for a moment. Treble, Crescendo. Make sure he lets me out, okay? Or I'll have to force my way out, and that might lead to memory loss, aside from the pain."

"I won't let him do anything bad." Said Treble.

"How are you going to do this?"

"My power is self-restoring, as you know. To prevent it accidentally making copies of me, if two lots of power collide they merge. During the merge, the one with the most power will always be the dominant personality unless they opt not to be. The lesser personality will be overwritten, but their memories and experiences will be transferred in full to the other, and since that's what shapes a personality... I should be fine. The duplicate power will self-delete once it's exposed to me, unless I have an immediate use for it. And I'll probably have a few of Bass's memories."

"But what are you going to do?" Clarified Arthur.

"I'm going to fully upload myself into Bass, then I'll use the waste power to heal him, and stop fighting to escape so he can focus on actually running. He just has to let me out, then." Said Flare. "...Wish me luck, Treble?"

Treble stepped forwards and lightly but quickly hugged her. "Good luck!" He let go.

Flare had no cheeks to blush on, but moved a hand in front of her mouth and looked down. "...T-thanks." She glowed gently for a few seconds, and then glowed with her orange soul energy before flowing into Bass.

Bass's eyes snapped open, and he gasped for breath. He sat up sharply, cloaks falling off him. He took a deep breath and looked at his hands, then to Crescendo. "...What happened?" He said, nowhere near as dark and foreboding as he normally was. Losing in a perpetual life-and-death struggle for a few days can hinder your aggression.

Crescendo smiled, then laughed. "Oh, thank whatever there is! You're okay! She kept her word!" Crescendo offered Bass a hand up, and Bass accepted.

"...I feel Falzar within me. She's not fighting." Said Bass, usual darkness returning. "Are you to thank for this?"

"No." Said Crescendo. "That is both Treble's influence and her own will. I just helped."

Bass turned to Treble, surprised to see him there. "Treble. What did you do?"

"I convinced Flare to heal you. She's inside you now. Once you let her out, you'll be totally fine." Said Treble.

Bass nodded. "...I don't need that power. It's more corrupting than even DarkPower. If you're sure that it will work this time... Release Ability." Bass shimmered, and there was a breeze around him. It quickly rose to a gale of wind, sending the cloaks flying, then died down as Flare's form returned, glowing orange for a few moments before solidifying. Bass sighed. "Free at last. I've never been so close to true deletion..."

Treble stepped forwards and gave Flare another quick hug. She made a surprised sqeaking sound, like a rubber duck, but then returned the hug.

Crescendo looked at them. "She was gone for thirty seconds!"

"Don't care, hugs are what she deserves." Said Treble. "You okay, Flare?"

"All fine." Said Flare. "...We can go in peace, right?"

Bass hesitated, before nodding. "Just once. We will fight again, Treble. The next time we meet, there will be no holding back."

"Aww. I was hoping we could become friends after all that..." Said Treble.

"We knew it was unlikely." Said Arthur. "If you want to talk with him about anything, then I think now's the time though. You won't get chances like this often."

Treble looked at Crescendo. "So... what are your plans now, Bass? Where are you going to look for more power?"

"Hm. I have been trying for a long time to beat MegaMan using powers opposite to his, but perhaps I've been going about it the wrong way." Said Bass. "Bonds aren't everything, and I'm so close to finally proving that to the world. I just need to triumph over the strongest one to prove that."

"But what about your bond with me?" Said Crescendo. "In fact, Bass! I have to know, why did you save me?! Why did you train me, become my friend?! I found out about your reputation when I was trying to find a way to heal you. The legendary black shadow. Without an ally in all the world, and no desire to gain one."

"I saved you because I felt sympathy." Said Bass. "I was in that situation, once. I trained you to unlock your potential, to see if it was worth taking. I befriended you to see if I was wrong."

"Wrong?" Said Crescendo.

"MegaMan has defeated me several times. I had begun to question whether I was right. If bonds really were everything, the ultimate power." Said Bass. "So I made one. My first ally since the day I got this scar. I was looking for an ally. I originally wanted it to be Treble, as someone I had shared a body with. But he already had a NetOp that he wouldn't part with, and... I refuse to ally with a human. So that left you."

"...Huh. Gee. So, I'm nothing special to you?" Said Crescendo.

"I never said that." Said Bass. "You've been loyal and a valuable ally. Our bond is not the strongest, but... I see the merit in it. Bonds are not all-powerful, and I know that for sure now. And I'll prove that to the world by defeating MegaMan. Will you stand with me for it?"

"Why?" Said Crescendo. "Why do we have to prove it? Can't we just be happy?"

"Because they destroyed my life after I gave them everything. My own will is all I can rely on... although, perhaps yours too. Who else would be able to question me?" Said Bass with a wry smile. "Let's become the strongest two in cyberworld. But if you want to leave, I won't stop you. I need trust, not forced allies."

"I just saved your life." Said Crescendo. "But... yeah. Let's do it. Once I'm the strongest, there's something I need to do too."

"Huh? What?" Said Treble.

"I'm going to find out who organised me getting kidnapped, and I'm going to wipe them off the face of the earth. Then I'll get on with a nice, normal life." Said Crescendo. "Until then, Bass? I'm yours, and you can count on me."

"Good. So, Treble..." Said Bass. "Are you and Falzar dating?" The mood changed fast enough to give Arthur whiplash.

Treble stuttered for a second in surprise. "Well! Um. Y-Yeah..."

"Yes." Said Flare. "But don't call me Falzar. We went over this, Bass. I am NOT Falzar anymore."

Bass raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Well, I hope you'll keep fighting me anyway. I prefer my foes come to me, rather than the other way round."

"I think they're cute together." Said Crescendo. "Imagine if they had a kid!"

"It would be a very powerful kid." Said Bass in agreement.

"I-I meant that in an 'it would be cute' way..." Said Crescendo. "You wouldn't go after a kid, would you?!"

"...No. Too weak." Said Bass.

"Guys, I'm not planning on having a kid! I'm a navi!" Protested Treble. "Seriously, it's probably not even possible."

"But would you if you could? You totaly should." Said Arthur lightly, stepping on board the teasing train.

"A-Arthur!"

"I'd consider it if it was possible." Said Flare. "...But not while you're alive, to be blunt." She looked at Bass.

Bass shrugged. "Power is power. Good luck with Treble. Don't try telling him not to fight me, unless you're volunteering to try instead."

"She could probably kick your butt." Said Treble. "Especially now that you don't have her power."

Bass raised a dark smile. "Perhaps not her power... But a template remains." His armor briefly went orange, with the head fins spiking.

Flare sighed. "Oh, right. You still have a carving. I should have erased that while I was in there."

"You couldn't have." Said Bass. "Well, I'm not staying idle. That's not the path to my goals. As I've already said: We'll fight again. Until I become the strongest, and defeat MegaMan. Goodbye, and prepare yourself." He made a portal behind himself, and stepped in.

"...He really ought to see you out of the page. We live here." Said Crescendo. "...Oh, and do you want this back?" He held out the cloak Treble had left next to Bass.

"Of course! It's one of Bass' actual cloaks!" Said Treble. "...Even if it looks pretty terrible on me. Hey, by the way... does Bass know MegaMan lost a fight to Gregar yesterday?"

"Oh, my... Bass is going to freak out. About the cloak, recolor it like I did." Said Crescendo. "Make it gray like your head. I'd better go break it to him, ha... Do you have a video?"

"...Maybe. But then it wouldn't look like Bass's." Said Treble, searching for a file in the PET. "And here you go, Gregar actually beating MegaMan, even if he did get lucky once or twice. Well Flare, shall we go?"

"I'd rather not stay here." Said Flare.

"Bye Crescendo. I guess we'll probably fight some day, too. I'll be ready." Said Treble.

* * *

"...So, we're on holiday now." Said Treble.

"We are." Agreed Flare, sounding almost confused. "What are we going to do? I'm not really used to being able to just... go anywhere."

"Well, let's have all three of us NetOps meet up somewhere." Said Arthur. "But where?"

Ethan's voice came over the communications. "There's a mall near mine. And a chip shop."

"Or we could go to Cyber city? There's probably a lot to do there." Said Arthur. "There's only really a chip shop here, and it's not that big. I'll mail Blaze now." He got his email open.

"Hey, Treble, come back to my computer." Said Ethan. "You should get to look around."

"OK!"

"Should I tell Blaze to come there, too?" Said Arthur.

"..." Ethan made a small grumbling sound. "Alright. Of the officials, she wasn't too bad."

"What did they do to you? Gregar not liking them I understand, but..."

"...Stuff." Said Ethan. It was clear enough it was personal, so Arthur left it there.

"Well, as long as you're nice with her. She saved Gregar, more than anyone else really."

"How?"

"She's the one that found the Alpha memory that exenorated him."

"Oh." Said Ethan. "Dang, I'd have thanked her back when I saw her at Scilabs if I knew. A lot."

"No worries." Said Arthur. "Anyway, I'll mail her now."

'Blaze, we're meeting online at Ethan's computer. Come if you want!'

A reply came fairly quickly. 'Be there in a minute!' And then a few seconds later 'Where is it?'

Arthur tapped out the location. "Okay, Blaze should be here pretty soon. So, Ethan, you mentioned a mall? Anything else near yours? I just remembered, there's an amusement arcade on the other side of town near me. I haven't ever checked it out, though."

"Eastfall mall. Nice place, but it's not that big for a mall. They have a pretty nice candy store. And I think they hold little expos every few days."

"Treble, any preference? Mall or Arcade? Or maybe we should wait for Blaze?"

"Why not both? We've got a whole week!" Said Treble.

"...He has a point." Said Arthur with a smile. "What should we do first is the question."

"I want to take Treble around our area too." Said Flare. "...Hopefully it'll end a bit better than last time."

"Probably." Said Arthur. "The officials are keeping you safe, rather than hunting you down now. Hey, and maybe you could come and see the Secret Area. You can find rare-type viruses more often there, get some good chips. It's how I got my ridiculously good LongBlade."

"What's ridiculous about it?"

"Neutral code."

"Wow. That's something. Hey, are you into skating?"

"Not really. I had a board when I was little, but I could never manage to balance on it."

"Shame. There's a REALLY great skateshop near me. They'll do custom boards if you ask nicely."

"..." Arthur was lost in thoughts for a moment. "I remember it. You sent me to meet Gregar there, right?"

"Yeah. Plus I fought the first beast virus there. I have to say, they were weaker back then. When they'd only had Gregar's power for a few hours."

"It all ended okay. More than okay, honestly."

"True. Heh, if you'd told me two months ago I was capable of operating Gregar I'd have probably called you a loony."

They continued to talk.

* * *

Eventually, Flare and Treble returned to Ethan's computer. Flare put her hands together and shifted nervously. "So, I guess it's time you saw inside here properly. Y-you know, without being tied to a healing machine for ages."

"I kind of enjoyed that." Said Treble. "...Um, maybe not the whole life-and-deletion part. But it was a pretty nice basement."

"It's not a basement- It's our secret hideout!" Said Flare with mock indignation. "Come on in!"

They went into the computer. The first area seemed like an ordinary bit of space from an ordinary computer, but Treble knew better at this point. There were a few links set into the floor and a poster showing a navi surrounded by chips on the walls, but nothing more. Treble immediately started looking for the entrance to the 'Secret hideout'.

Flare dropped to the floor, walked to the middle of the room and stamped her foot once. The panel beneath her glowed for just a moment, and then there was a small 'Ka-chik' as the panel in front of her swung open like a trapdoor, revealing a link. "Tadaa."

"That is actually awesome. Where can I get one of those?" Said Treble.

"We made it." Said Ethan proudly. "Took forever to code, but I'm not a coder. As long as nobody scanned the area then it'd be fine."

"Come on down, Treble!" Flare stepped onto the link.

"Right behind you!"

Treble appeared back in the secret base he'd been held in. The difference was that everyone looked pleased to see him. He got another look at the areas it had been partitioned into. Gregar's was still covered in training debris, but there was also a little banner hung up over the top with his Navi mark on it. Alias' was next, and the music box was in full swing, while he rocked out on a dance dance revolution pad, against Gregar. The two were really going at it. Next was Flare's area. It was...

"Woah, your area is wayyy better than the others." Said Treble. It was basically a small garden. The floor was coated in grass, a few thin cybertrees had been grown, and some rocks shifted in and turned into an actual working fountain. A barrier shaped like a fence encased Zoano in one corner. It was, all in all, picturesque. That left SheepMan's area. It was strangely homely, with a pair of big, clear chairs covered in digital blankets in front of a currently empty fireplace. The edges had two giant shelves filled with data, and a couple of large pictures of pixelated art. Treble recognised the three largest ones as stylised versions of Flare, Alias and Gregar respectively, alongside a hoard of smaller, less detailed ones. Next to it, there was what appeared to be a coffee machine. and a big table, with a few files in each corner. SheepMan was reading something in the chair. Connecting them all was a small room with a healing machine next to a simple couch. Treble noted that there was an almost comical band-aid over the point he'd been tied to it.

"I'm back!" Called Flare.

Alias looked over from his match of dance dance revolution. "Hey there!" He twisted and made three more moves before misstepping. He stepped off and shrugged. "Three to two."

"As it should be." Said Gregar. "Oh, Treble!"

"Hi Gregar! Nice being on holiday, right?"

"...It's a new concept." Said Gregar. "What do you do with it?"

"Anything you want!"

"Within reason." Added Arthur.

"Well, let's have a training match." Said Gregar. "I still need to get even with Ember, too."

"Who needs to get even?" Said Ember, from behind Treble.

Treble spun. "Ember! We're all here now... wait, actually. I could call over my other friends."

Gregar shook his head. "I wouldn't try cramming any more navis in here."

Ember looked around. "Wow, nice pad. We could use one like this."

"Pretty cool, right?" Said Alias.

"So, now we can talk about what we should do on our holiday!" Said Flare.

* * *

A handful of minutes later...

"Okay, it's settled! We'll go to Eastfall mall tomorrow." Said Alias.

"That leaves the rest of today for battling." Said Gregar.

"I'll go and call my friends now." Said Treble. "And we'll all meet up in the Abandoned Underground!"

"Alright! Let's go, guys!" Said Ember. "Last one there's a SlowGauge chip!"

"Laggy and useless? Harsh!" Called Alias, laughing. "Prepare to eat my dust!"

Gregar was already gone.

"C'mon Flare! Arthur can message my friends!" Treble pulled Flare along, until she spread her wings and was able to keep up pretty easily. They all scrambled out of the page.

Arthur frantically started typing. "I've turned into some kind of message boy..."

Ethan was busy on his end, too. "Let's hope my lot are around!"

* * *

"And the SlowGauge is... Alias!" Said Ember.

Alias ran into the page. "...Flare can fly, and the rest of you run fast enough to cross the net in a few hours."

"You could have used my carving." Said Flare.

"Yeah, but... shush!" Said Alias.

"Are we late to the party?" Called ArsenalMan, walking in behind Alias. "You missed a shortcut, by the way."

"Good job, all." Said MathMan. "Denny mailed us the fight. Sorry we missed it."

"No biggie." Said Alias. "We totally creamed them."

"It's easier to say that now it's over." Said Gregar. "But I saw into your soul back then. I know you nearly screamed when it got back up."

"...It had three eyes." Said Alias.

"So, we're all here now. Who wants a netbattle?!" Said Treble.

"YEAH!" Chorused most of them.

Gregar looked at Ember. "...You and me first. I have a score to settle."

"Oh, bring it." Said Ember. "This one's for Hub." Arthur was wondering why she'd use Hub's real name, until he realised it was much less of a giveaway that Gregar beat MegaMan than saying MegaMan.

"Gregar, time to ride!" Said Ethan.

"Ember, fire it up!"

Everyone else scooted back, forming a wide circle.

"Ah-WOOoo!"

"Stoked!" Ember's mask slammed shut.

They lunged for each other, clashing weapons. Gregar tried to stop Ember getting moving, but she already had enough momentum to slip past, turning in a wide arc. Gregar started firing his buster, struggling to land a hit.

"TrebleCross! MachGun3, MoonBlade!"

"AreaSteal! Sword, WideBlade LongBlade! Program advance, Lifesword!"

Ember started strafing, the MachGun inaccurate but firing with enough speed and spread to pretend it was aimed carefully. The image of Treble appeared, and suddenly she was even faster, untrackable. Gregar tensed, then spun, slicing at air with the LifeSword. Ember instantly went in for a strike, appearing right in front of him with blades drawn, when Gregar warped behind her, and brought his claws down.

They sparked off a MoonBlade, as Ember sped forwards and then turned, before charging right at Gregar. She'd learned already that she couldn't physically overpower Treble, let alone Gregar, and instead jumped at the last moment, using the speed as her shield. Gregar sparked with electricity once, and tackled at the airborne Ember in a cloak of energy, but to his surprise Ember stuck out a blade towards him so fast that he couldn't possibly avoid it, and all but stabbed himself. He skidded to the floor, as Ember was launched into the air with the force.

"AirHockey, CustomSword, SteamMan chip!"

"Gregar, transform for the speed! We'll match her! Take an Elec chip!"

Gregar transformed in the blink of an eye, and made a dash for Ember with jaw-dropping agility for something his size. He sparked once, and Arthur realised he'd used the Elec chip to reload his innate weapon.

 _That's a lot of firepower, and so fast..._

Ember didn't betray any hint of fear, and she charged CB-Gregar, speed still the superior of the two- but only just. Gregar made a huge bite, enormous maw opening wide enough to swallow Ember whole. Treble couldn't see why this was a special techinque until he realised he could feel himself getting sucked towards it, like Gregar had a giant vacuum in there. Ember clearly wasn't expecting that either, but with one well-timed blast from the jets on her back she was able to get to the left enough to skate along the side of Gregar's head. She tossed the AirHockey, and it bounced of an invisible wall straight into Gregar's side, passing right through and leaving a glowing mark. Gregar threw her off, and a few stones fell from somewhere in the ceiling, towards Ember. Ember darted out and Gregar caught her with a huge blast of electricity, before making a tremendous leap.

A copy of SteamMan appeared over Ember as Blaze almost instantly activated a new cross. "Together! **Hydraulic Punch!"**

Next to the chip's copy of SteamMan, SteamCross Ember drew back a fist and put all her might into a punch. They hit in unison, and Gregar was nearly halted, but he kept on going, and swiped with his claws, sending Ember back. Without the mobility advantage and no defensive option to counter Gregar, Ember was in trouble. TailGatling forced her to dance around, not letting her get close for another punch.

"Now... **CrossDivide!"** Said Ethan.

Colonel appeared. It was so realistic Treble almost thought it wasn't a copy. He carefully aimed his saber, and then ripped it through the air, and two glowing golden lines crossed over Ember. SteamCross dropped, and she stumbled back, as Gregar lunged and snapped his jaws around her. For a split second Arthur worried he was about to eat her, when he relaxed and dropped her on the floor. Neither had been at their most serious for the fight.

"I WIN THIS TIME, EMBER." He shifted back to normal, and looked over Ember lying on the floor. Then he knelt quickly, looking at one of her blades. "Was this here before?! Ember?! I didn't damage you, did I?!"

"What's wrong?" Called Alias.

Gregar looked Ember in the eyes. Her mask rolled up. Ember nodded. "It's an old wound." She got to her feet and brushed herself off. Then held her left blade out to one side, angling it carefully so everyone could see a sickly red glow on one. "Nearly got deleted once. We weren't able to fully restore the data."

"Whew." Said Gregar. "Thought I'd broken something."

"Your synchro is a lot higher when Ethan's operating..." Said Blaze. "How did you bond so much so fast?"

"Well, he was the first human to show me kindness, among other things." Said Gregar. "I warmed up to him fast enough. Who's next?"

They battled on.

* * *

Eventually, the navis all lay around, tired.

"I'll see you tomorrow, guys." Said Alias.

"Same. I hope the mall's not overcrowded." Said Ember.

"Looking forward to it, you guys!" Said Treble.

Arthur smiled at the three. It was heartwarming to see them talk without any hint of a grudge, but this was good for a bigger picture, too. They were stronger together. They had to be.

 **Author's notes: So, Gregar is currently pretty powerful! Although he might not be able to beat MegaMan in a rematch, now that MegaMan knows all his tricks. And Reflector is still the bane of his life. Bass is Bass, and dialogue. Yay. Expect fluff for the next chapter.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RandyPandy: Glad that I can still write a fight! Eurasia arc will hopefully meet expectations, but in the meantime, enjoy a few 'intermission' chapters. Having three beasts going past while chatting would probably be quite a sight, even to an Undernet navi. And would you pet Gregar given the chance? It's a pretty rare chance, after all...**


	35. Chapter 35: Holiday

"Treble, we should make a few more SP chips of you." Said Arthur. "You'll probably want to give them to someone in the next few days."

"Good idea! But we need William to help out for that..." Said Treble. There was a sway as the train changed direction a little.

"I saw him do it last time, I've got the general idea of what to do. Maybe we can find a program for it on the net somewhere."

"Your coding skills are about the same as my skills in using holy chips. But trying couldn't hurt!"

"...You got me there. Well, I'll get it done anyhow."

* * *

Eastfall was a bright town. Sun shone overhead, and the streets were wide, letting it dry away the night's damp. Arthur looked around the station. "I didn't appreciate it last time we were here, but this is a nice station." There was a metal canopy overhead, with rows of neat gilded spikes at the end. With a curved concrete structure, it looked good.

"Eh, worrying about people does that." Said Treble. "Hey look! There's a chip trader!"

"Oh, cool." Said Arthur. "We have a bunch of chips I recorded but never used. Especially from when we started out."

"Let's use it!"

Arthur walked over, and went through his pack. "Two Reflector1's, and a Flashbomb1..." He put the chips in and cranked the handle. With a satisfying clunk, a chip dropped into a tray at the bottom. Arthur picked it up. "MagCoil. Never seen this before. 'Draw enemy in with Mag force'. Well, it's only one rarity star, but it looks cool."

"We should go try it out!"

"Ok. But where can we find a virus to fight..." Arthur looked around. "Actually, let's just wait for Blaze. I don't want to miss her." He sat on a bench, and looked out at the town. He put a hand in his pocket, and took out the GSTreble chip. "You know, it's odd to think someone else will use this chip more than we will."

"I guess I'm just better than myself!" Said Treble with a smug voice.

After a few minutes, another train turned up. A couple of people stepped off before one with extremely red hair bounced off.

"Over here, Blaze!" Arthur waved a bit, as the crowd started to flood the platform.

Blaze jogged over. "Hiya there! So this is Eastfall... I think this is the furthest east I've ever been from cyber city. I hear the culture's kind of different."

"Different? Um... how? Anyway, this way to leave the station!" Arthur pointed a hand forwards, and started walking.

"Electopia was two countries until like two hundred years ago. We did it in history last year. It's why the food is kind of different once you go past End City."

"Oh yeah, that's why it's called End City. It's where your particular culture sort of just... ends. All I really know about your culture is that sushi is apparently good."

Blaze smiled a bit, and bit her lip as the smiled morphed into a grin. "...Word of advice, once you try real sushi you won't be able to eat the plastic that you can buy in stores here."

"I'll look forward to it." They strode off into the town.

* * *

The mall wasn't too far from the station, just a short walk. Arthur ended up getting curious over the whole 'cultural differences' thing, and started pointing out random foodstuffs in shop windows. "...So, do you have doughnuts?"

"Yeah. But they're kind of lame." Said Blaze. "They put like half as much jam in them over in Cyber city. Last time I had one here it got all over my PET! Just one bite, and... skoosh!" Blaze waved her hands about.

"And let me tell you, it really sucks when you have dried jam over the camera." Said Ember.

"Do you haveee... bacon?"

"Yep! Who doesn't have bacon?! Hey, do you have riceballs?"

"...What's a riceball?"

"A ball of rice." Said Blaze. "But there's a little bit of nori on the bottom to hold it with, and the inside is filled with tuna or prawns or something."

"Um... Nori?"

Blaze made a funny face. "Ember, how do we explain nori to someone that doesn't know what a riceball is?"

Ember almost audibly shrugged. "It's the stuff on the bottom of riceballs. That's honestly the best description I have without a connection to the net."

They rounded the corner, and were suddenly faced with a giant mall. Arthur raised a hand. "Okay, how does a building that big manage to be so hard to see from around a corner?"

"You weren't looking for it, silly!" Said Treble. "Go on, Ethan's waiting!"

They went in. Immediately, the atmosphere changed. There was the smell of a bakery, yellowy lighting, and the sound of dozens of people wandering about. Mall atmosphere. Sitting on a bench by the entrance was none other than Ethan. He'd swapped out his scuffed denim jacket for a newer one in black, in conjunction with a dark grey shirt that made him look a lot like Alias, if not for the different faces. He was talking into his PETs, until he noticed Arthur and Blaze, and jumped up. "Two minutes late, Arthur." He tutted, smiling. "Let's go. One of my friends is holding a concert upstairs!"

Arthur slipped his PET into his hand. "Okay, lead on!"

"Hi Flare!" Shouted Treble.

"Hi Treb!"

Ethan sidestepped onto an escalator, and Blaze and Arthur followed. "I like your mall. It feels kind of... hmm, not sure how to describe it. It's got that X factor." Said Arthur.

"It's a nice place!" Agreed Blaze. "It feels summery!" She clicked her fingers. "It's got that feeling like when you're somewhere new and exciting!"

As they reached the top floor, Arthur could faintly hear jazz music played from somewhere. Ethan seemed to immediately lock onto the music, and made a beeline for it. "Quick, we're gonna miss the start of the performance!" He broke into a run.

Blaze followed suit, and Arthur was amazed at how fast she was. She zipped past him, and overtook Ethan at about twice his speed. "Like NetOp like Navi." He ran after them, the slowest. He made it to the stage just as a new musician took the stage.

"And our next musicians, Zacky, and his navi SoundWoman!" The musician carefully took a saxophone out of a case, wires subtly connected to the buttons. On a screen behind him, his navi, in silver-orange armor that was plated in speakers pulled out a keytar. Zacky took a steady breath and started to play the saxophone in a slow-medium tempo, as SoundWoman rolled out careful backing melodies with the keytar, complimenting the saxophone.

"Classy." Said Arthur, as the saxophone's giant speakers sent smooth vibrations through the floor.

"Never heard of an electric saxophone... But it sounds great!" Said Treble.

The song played out, and eventually, they wandered off. After passing a coupe of shops, Ethan looked around. "Actually, I have another friend here. Come with me." He started going towards an extremely un-Ethan-like shop, given that the front windows had about six dresses in them.

Blaze giggled. "You should try some of these on Ethan, brighten up your palette!"

The image of Ethan in any jacket that wasn't black seemed flawed in Arthur's head. A dress was firmly beyond him. Ethan and black jackets were meant for each other. He shrugged, and picked his way past a mannequin.

"Alisha?" Said Ethan. "Aliiiisha?"

A girl in white came out from behind a rack of trousers, and tapped Blaze on the shoulder. "Boo."

Blaze spun fast enough to make Arthur take a step back for fear of getting slapped by her ponytail. "Hi there!" Said Blaze.

"This is Alisha. She operates Midnight." Said Ethan.

"Nice to meet you at last. Midnight's helped out a lot." Said Arthur.

"Oh, it was nothing. Gadget here did all the hard work." Said Alisha.

"Alishaaa, not front of them!" Ethan poked her in the shoulder.

"So, has _Gadget_ here been a good host?" Said Alisha. "It can get impossible to stop him once he starts talking."

"Come on, that was once. You're worse, with your magic sewing kit hidden net-knows-where." Said Ethan.

"It's not magic. Just experience." Said Alisha. "Who are you two? Actually... I never forget an emblem. You operate Treble. But her... Hmm..."

"Blaze Kazuhaya. You might have seen Ember once or twice." Said Blaze.

Alisha smiled. "Oh, I remember her. We ought to have a battle, you know..."

"I'm up for that." Said Ember. "Where's Midnight?"

"Just handling the sewing machine. We make custom-tailored clothes, and it needs constant supervision, so... Come back in half an hour? Ethan, go take them to the Frozen zone."

Ethan clapped his hands together. "The Frozen Zone. How could I forget that? Come on, we're going for ice cream."

He marched out of the shop, and Arthur and Blaze followed. "So, I guess the Frozen Zone is an ice cream shop?" Said Arthur.

"The best." Said Ethan. "Name a flavor."

"Cinnamon buns." Said Blaze defiantly.

"They have it." Said Ethan. "And before you got it in Cyber city, too."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"...Chocolate orange?" Volunteered Arthur.

"Always." Said Ethan. "They have about a hundred flavors. On a BAD day. Also sorbet and frozen yogurt if you're into that. And a daily special."

They saw a storefront with a large model ice cream posted outside, the standard cone that most seaside shops bought and left around. Unlike those cones, somebody had taken the time to replace the standard vanilla top with a much more cheerful strawberry colour, and they'd added a giant flake and cherry to the model.

Ethan pushed the doors open, and a wave of sweet air hit Arthur. The first thing he saw was the counter was a giant O, the entire thing a ring of ice cream flavors. A pair of employees whirled around inside, serving quickly.

"Oh man." Said Arthur. "What do I get? It would take a full year just to try all of this."

Blaze narrowed her eyes. "I spy, with my little eye... wait what." She swerved around. "Grape? I've never seen grape ice cream before..."

"It's actually pretty nice." Said Ethan. "The only one you want to stay clear of is the black coffee. You won't be able to taste anything but coffee for about a week. Oh yeah, and the winberry one will stain ANYTHING it touches."

Arthur read over the array of flavors, walking around the counter. "I'll take... a waffle cone, with two scoops, one of chocolate orange, and one of white chocolate and raspberry. And a fudge stick."

"That'll be... uh... sorry, payment machine's acting up." Said the employee.

Blaze peered over Arthur's shoulder. She grinned. "Is it a virus?"

"...Yeah, appears to be." Said the employee. "Wait here a moment, there's an official on duty downstairs..."

"We can handle it." Said Blaze. "Trust me, I'm an official!"

"Well, I guess..." Said the employee.

"Ethan, Blaze? How much can we overkill this virus without potentially damaging that machine?" Said Arthur.

Ethan started laughing. "Go on Alias, show it what's what. Gregar needs a bit of payback too."

"Ember, go!"

"Treble. Enjoy." Said Arthur, as they pointed their PETs into the little terminal.

There was a brief flash after about one second.

"Got it!" Called Alias. "And guess what! It was a rare!"

"Hey, sweet." Said Ethan. "Wait, a rare what?"

"VacuumFan." Said Ember.

Arthur chuckled a bit. "We just deployed with enough force to take on Bass, for a VacuumFan. Okay, how much is my ice cream?"

* * *

"So what flavors did you guys go for?" Said Arthur.

"Triple chocolate, and Millionaire's shortbread. Blaze?" Said Ethan.

"Strawberry bubblegum, and grape. You're right, they actually made grape ice cream. I've never seen that before." Said Blaze.

"Watch it doesn't drip, Arthur!" Said Treble.

"Woah!" Arthur spun the cone around before he could end up getting sticky. "Mm."

"So then, let's go have a netbattle with Midnight." Said Ember.

"Right on!" Said Blaze.

They walked back over to the clothing store. Alisha was sitting on a bench outside. "Welcome back." She said. "Come on in, there's a computer we can use in the back."

* * *

Arthur looked on at the battle. Ember's speed was her greatest advantage as always, but Midnight's scythe attacks were easy for her to control, allowing her to guard against Ember's blows effectively. While he stood and analysed, trying to find the strengths and weaknesses in each navi, Treble was a part of the group inside cheering them on. The very tiny crowd had split support evenly- both wolves chanting for Ember, and Alias and Flare for Midnight. Gregar had been surprisingly decisive about cheering for Ember, explaining it with a short "Hey, if she can beat me, she can beat Midnight."

Ember made a flurry of strokes, before slipping through Midnight's guard and sending her reeling with a blow.

"BubbleStar! Thunder! Train... Arrow!" Said Alisha, feeding chips into the PET.

Blaze looked up with a smug face. "Chill out... Ember, let's ice this girl. Here's WindRack!"

"Ice puns?" Said Arthur. "Blaze, you're literally called-"

"FreezeCross!" Said Ember, as her armor was suddenly encased in shiny blue ice. The arm and knee blades were replaced with two beautiful, crystal-clear lengths of ice, and an apparently knitted scarf with a blue flame pattern wrapped around her neck. Midnight launched the BubbleStar, and Ember swiped one of her arms. The length of clear ice detached, and went right through the bubble, which shattered into a few thin bits of frost. The icicle spear went on, before Midnight destroyed it with the thunder, but Ember was already upon her. She tried to hit with a blast of what Arthur assumed was lunar energy, and suddenly Ember hit her with another icicle spear, before moving behind Midnight. "Someone just got got freezer burned." She pointed the WindRack at Midnight.

"I give." Said Midnight. "Didn't expect you to go Aqua, of all things."

"Power of the cross system." Said Ember.

"Heyyy... can you do MasterCross yet?" Said Treble. "Good fight, you guys!"

"Thanks, and no. We just can't find a RiskyHoney3 in the A code." Said Ember.

Flare gave Midnight a hand up. "Have you tried the Graveyard?"

Gregar nodded. "There are HoneyBomber3's there. You're a fire navi."

"I've been there, but... not recently." Said Ember. "I guess we'll go again. Maybe tomorrow?"

* * *

Two days later, it was Arthur's turn to have the two battlers over. He sat at the station, with Joe and William. Denny was still at Scilabs.

William looked up at the train timetable. "So, Arthur... who's getting the chip?"

Arthur looked at the new copy of TrebleSP. "Flare. If you want it, you can have the second one."

"...I'll trade you it." Said William. "Remember that UnifyCode you never gave back?"

Arthur put a hand over his mouth. "Oh, shoot... Sorry."

"Eh, it's no big deal. I use a unicode folder." Said William. "Still. I'm looking forwards to getting in a few battles with Ethan."

"Assuming the arcade has anywhere to battle." Said Joe.

"Train's here." Said Arthur.

Ethan was first off the train, followed by Blaze. "Finally. I thought we'd be stuck in that tunnel forever..." Said Ethan.

Arthur shrugged. "Trains I guess. Come on, let's go!"

* * *

While their operators milled around in the real world, Blaze absolutely destroying Ethan and Arthur in a racing game, the navis were all running around the arcade's network. While the topside was a relatively small arcade, with a bunch of small plastic token to operate the machines, the network was actually far better, with a few actual rides and much bigger games.

"Flare, there's a haunted house!" Called Treble. "Come in with me!"

"Coming!"

MathMan looked around a bit. "...Shooting gallery over there. Anyone care for a match?"

"I'll take you on." Said Alias.

Gregar was playing whack-a-mole. Furiously. "Stay! Still!" He growled, never actually missing.

ArsenalMan went to one of the other Mr. Progs who was operating a ride. "What's this?"

"This is the NetCoaster! It uses a series of links to send you all over the net in just a few minutes! Admission is 500 zenny!"

"Hmm..." ArsenalMan considered. "I'll try it."

"Step in! Watch out, it's pretty-"

ArsenalMan stepped into the little cart.

"-Fast!"

ArsenalMan discovered that exactly before the Mr. Prog could say it, as it launched him directly across the entire local area.

* * *

A few minutes later, Treble and Flare wandered out of the haunted house. Flare looked at Treble with her eyes narrowed.

"What did I do?!"

"You know what you did." Said Flare. Her tone was accusatory but not angry or hurt. Or even particularly serious.

"...Yeah. It was funnier in my head."

"That poor guy! He jumped right out of the net!" Flare's voice accidentally cracked into something a bit more amused.

"Hey, he got his value for zenny though." Said Treble, with guilty amusement. "Scariest moment of his life, I bet."

Gregar suddenly appeared over Flare's shoulder. "What'd he do?" He asked.

"The haunted house was kind of lame, but there was a really dark area at the end. So I hid behind one of the corners and jumped out at someone." Said Treble.

"Annnd they screamed loudly enough for three poeple." Said Flare.

Gregar snickered, trying to hold in laughter. "Don't you go making my sister mad, Treble, she'll mess you up." He joked. "Anyway, I found this little grabber machine and I can't beat it. Come help!" He guided Flare and Treble over to a claw-catcher machine. A bunch of battlechips were inside. Gregar pointed to one. "Look, there's a Prism. I've been meaning to get one, but I can't find them anywhere."

"...I can probably do this." Said Flare. She put a small amount of zenny into the machine and delicately guided the grabber over. It went down and attempted to grip the Prism chip with all the force of a leaf. "...Or not."

"Use your cybeast powers, make the claws less pathetic." Suggested Treble. "...Wait, is that cheating?"

"...Probably." Said Gregar. "But seriously, how can you beat this thing if it won't actually grasp the chip?!"

"I might be able to." Said MathMan, having wandered over. "I specialise in analysis after all, so give me a moment..." He looked over the machine, with a hand on his chin. He knelt and fed it some zenny, and to everyone's surprise guided the claw into one corner, all the way to a 'Humor' Navicust program in the far corner. He released the claw, watching carefully. It went down incredibly specifically, and despite the feeble strength got the program off the floor, and to everyone's confused amazement dropped it into a little prize tray.

"How?!" Said Gregar.

"Luck." Said MathMan. "That was actually just so I could study how the game controls itself. Now..." He put in another few zenny. This time he moved the claw very certainly, and positioned it slightly away from the centre of the battlechip. It went down, and to everyone's further amazement jammed the chip in the gap between two of the three claws on the grabber. It lifted it up, and took it over the exit... then opened, and didn't drop the chip. It was stuck.

"Oh my NET!" Said Gregar, slamming the machine with his open palm. It was rattled by the force, and dropped the chip into the tray. "Oh. Got it, Prism!" He said. "Cheers, YellowMan. Want me to repay you?"

"No problem, don't sweat it. Has anyone seen ArsenalMan, though?" Said MathMan. He held up the Humor program. "And does anyone want this? I can't stand it myself..."

"Yeah, he's over there." Said Alias, pointing to ArsenalMan staggering over.

ArsenalMan came up to the group almost tripping over his feet in dizziness. "Hey, who here handles crazy rides well?"

"Me!" Said Treble. "Which one?"

"The NetCoaster. That Mr. Prog over there."

Treble ran off. Flare actually followed. "Wait up! I like fast rides!"

"Count me in." Said MathMan plainly. "Alias? Gregar?"

"No screaming now, buddy!" Said Alias.

"I should say the same thing!" Responded Gregar.

"Making plans without me?" Added Ember.

The NetCoaster was honestly a much wilder ride than anyone had anticipated. Flare was enjoying it the most, used to the forces thanks to her own aerial manouevres, and treating it as more of a sightseeing thing. Treble was holding one of her hands in the air alongside both of his own, cheering and whooping as it went through twists and loops. In the cart behind, Alias and Gregar were enjoying themselves until a particularly unexpected turn got a tiny yelp of surprise out of Alias, to which he clapped his hands over his mouth. Gregar didn't seem to notice, or really care. MathMan was being his usual unshakable self in a cart at the back, but he smiled a bit when there was a great view over the area. Ember just seemed to be letting out one continuous "WHOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO...!"

They all staggered off, happy and dizzy after a particularly crazy corkscrew finish.

Treble and Flare staggered off the ride next to each other. Flare regained her bearings in a second, while Treble gently butted his head into her shoulder to stay steady. She absentmindedly patted his entire face for a second while clearing out the last of the dizziness. Then looked over and sort of just continued, murmuring "I guess I did say I'd pet you later..." to herself.

* * *

The day seemed to pass all too quickly, and Arthur found himself waving off Ethan and Blaze. MathMan had pawned off the Humor program to Gregar somehow. Ethan was putting on a little metal badge in the shape of a padlock he'd managed to win after a few tries. Blaze had her arms full with a little plush toy as the train doors closed.

The night was quiet, and Arthur and Treble spent it busting. They rounded up a few more BugFrags, and managed to get a few chips. The following day was likewise quiet, not that Arthur minded. He spent a bit of time chatting with his parents, and went to see Joe and William for a few casual natbattles.

And then it was time to visit Cyber City.

* * *

The first thing Arthur noticed when he was off the train was Ethan and Blaze. "Hey there." He greeted.

"Arthur!" Said Blaze. "Save me from the Humor program, it's _awful_."

Ethan laughed dryly. "I kind of like it." He held up Gregar's PET. "Do your thing."

Gregar grinned a jagged grin. "So, I was thinking we should go to a restaurant to power up. Get some new chips."

"...That is actually awful." Said Arthur. "How did Gregar even let you keep it installed?"

"It's just a bit of fun, I'll get rid of it and put Skata back in later." Said Gregar. "The reactions to the garbage this thing creates are better than proper jokes."

Blaze looked around. "Okay then, time for you two to see around Cyber city! The LevBus is this way!"

The LevBus was more literal than Arthur expected. But Ethan was the one to voice his question. "How are we actually staying in the air right now?"

"Magnetism, I think?" Said Blaze. "Or it might be a forcefield."

"I'd guess a forcefield." Said Arthur. "PETs are obviously protected from magnetism and all that nasty stuff, but you can't use wireless things like email in strong magnetic fields."

"But forcefields are really, really expensive to run." Said Ethan. "And the technology is insanely complex. I was considering doing a university course in them but the maths was too hard. But basically, if you wanted to run a forcefield around something the size of this LevBus... Hm..."

"You'd need approximately the same amount of energy it takes to run about a hundred helicopter blades that are maybe ten times the size of this each." Said Gregar matter-of-factly. "Speaking from experience here, trust me."

"What experience?" Said Ethan. "When?"

"...I think he'd proabably rather not say when." Said Blaze. "Right?"

"It's no big deal." Said Gregar. "Sure I got my heart ripped out and the whole area blown up, but I got better. In case you're wondering Ethan, Wily made a big copybot. I was inside it for a bit before MegaMan deleted me."

Ethan raised a hand. "But the technology needed to do that..."

"He's pretty smart." Said Blaze. "He said it himself: He's a decent programmer, and a great engineer. He'd probably have specialised in robotics a lot more if he'd had the funding back in his day. Or so he says. Hey, check out of the window now! You can see Seaside area!"

Arthur and Ethan got up quickly to look out of the windows. "The water's really clear... It must be very clean." Said Arthur.

"Flare, can you see this?" Said Treble.

"Perfectly!"

* * *

"So this is Green town!" Said Blaze.

"Oh... yeah, this place..." Said Ethan.

"You don't sound too thrilled?" Said Arthur.

"Sorry. Just getting out of the whole 'keep the law at arm's length' thing. We only got cleared recently." Said Ethan. "Green town's strictness with laws is infamous."

"He's not kidding. Whatever you do, don't be at all irresponsible or rude here. They take it very, VERY seriously." Said Blaze.

"Treble, that warning goes for you as much as me." Said Arthur. "If we go on the net here then do not spread any bugs."

"Hey, it's still a beautiful place though." Said Ember. "And it has the lowest serious crime rate in Electopia. Minor offences are off the charts, of course..."

Arthur looked up to see a huge oak tree's branches swaying in the wind above them. The whole place was very tranquil. "...Is that the JudgeTree? I've heard about it, but..."

"No, that's inside the court." Said Blaze. "Did you hear about the time it got hacked?"

Ethan looked shocked. "Someone hacked the JudgeTree?! But it's the main justice system for the country!"

"It was a while ago. And they were very familiar with how it worked." Said Blaze. "Still, I have to say- you do not want to get tasered by the security bots here. I get jittery just looking at them these days."

"...Ouch." Said Arthur. "Still, if you got tasered you probably got tasered helping protect someone, so good job."

"Moving on!" Said Blaze. "Over there is Mrs. Fahran's soup stall that she holds on Saturdays, and if we go down there then there's Feng-Tian, who likes to train navis in use of wind. I... guess we could go into the court and watch a bit of a trial, but..." She looked at Ethan awkwardly.

"I'd rather not." Said Ethan.

"Same." Said Gregar. "I'm probably still on the security list for there anyway."

"Let's go check out that Fang-Tienne person." Said Arthur. "After all, Flare is probably a greater master of wind than they are."

"Feng-Tian." Corrected Blaze. "This way!"

A few minutes later, Flare was having a conversation with TenguMan. "So, you say that if I use the attack like this..." She poised herself carefully.

"It'll be much faster to cast!" Said TenguMan. "...Hmm, you're extra-ordinarily powerful! I can tell."

"Thank you, sensei." Said Flare. "...But I don't want to netbattle, if that's alright."

"It's okay. Still... I'd certainly enjoy testing you if you want to return." Offered TenguMan.

They continued on, and in another few minutes it was Ember talking to SlashMan, with Gregar and Treble behind her. "Three bowls!" She asked.

"Coming right up! Slasssh!" Said SlashMan. He took a few vegetables out and threw them into the air, and started to juggle while slicing away with his enormous sword-hands. A pile of diced vegetables fell into a pot in front of him, and he poured in a bit of water before putting it over a little cyber fire. "...Ah, an old frenemy." He smiled at Gregar, murder in his eyes. "Care to explain why you're here?"

"No." Said Gregar. "But I'm on your side now."

"..." SlashMan shrugged. "You're with Ember, I suppose. Who's the other one? He looks like an expert at cutting, but not a cook."

"I'm Treble! It's nice to meet you, uh..."

"SlashMan. Soup's up." He quickly slid out three bowls of soup.

* * *

"Eek, we spent way too long in Green Town!" Said Blaze, as they got onto the next LevBus. "We're only gonna be able to see one more place!"

"Hey, can we go to Seaside area?" Said Gregar.

"Huh? Why?" Said Flare.

"I want to see if the scratch marks are still on the vending machine." Said Gregar.

Blaze looked confused for a second. "Oh, I know what you mean. They painted over them when they were repairing all the other damage."

"Aw well. Go wherever, then." Said Gregar.

"Sky town sounds fun!" Said Treble. "We should go skydiving!"

"I'm not afraid of heights, but skydiving is where I draw the line." Said Arthur. "...Then again, a whole flying town? I want to see that."

"Sky town it is then!" Said Ethan.

"Alrighty! It's the next stop." Said Blaze cheerily.

Arthur looked up to see the huge flying area. "H-how high up is that?"

"Um... not sure." Said Blaze.

"About two thousand five hundred metres." Said Ember. "It's above the thick clouds that form when there's going to be bad rain, so it can more effectively counteract them when they start to form- or form them if there's a drought."

"They also have the best wireless signal ever." Said Blaze.

As they rode the lift, Ethan noticed Arthur was white-knuckled with the force he was gripping the siderail. "...Are you afraid of heights?"

"No." Said Arthur. "...I'm afraid of falling."

"I never knew." Said Treble. "...Um... wow. I feel kind of selfish now."

"Don't. I'll be just fine." Said Arthur.

About a minute later, he was not 'just fine'. "Arthur!" Said Blaze.

"I'm fine I'm fine!" Yelled Arthur, kneeling. He crawled to the edge of the platform and threw up. This also meant he looked down. "I'm not fine, never mind!"

"...That's gonna land on someone." Said Ethan. "You should probably go back down."

Arthur stood up, basically vibrating. "Let's just push on. I have to get over it at some time, might as well be now."

"You're gonna fall off if you shake this much!" Said Treble. "And I'm in your pocket too!"

"...Yeah okay. I'll wait for you guys at the bottom." Said Arthur. He shakily went for the lift.

Maybe half an hour later, Ethan and Blaze came down. Arthur was back to normal. "So uh... yeah, I'm afraid of heights. That was an extreme situation though."

"Sorry. We had no idea." Said Blaze.

"Eh, don't be." Said Arthur. "Did you have fun up there?"

"We did!" Said Ethan. "You can get a great view."

"Cool."

* * *

It was the last night of the small holiday. Everyone was on the net together. "Hey Flare, I have a present for you! We meant to give it to you earlier, sorry..." Said Treble. He passed her the SP chip.

"Thanks a lot!" Said Flare. "This reminds me, I've been thinking... there's actually something I've been meaning to do, too..."

"Hm? What?"

"Ethan, send me the SP chip." Said Flare. "I'm going to try it."

Ethan's voice played. "You sure?"

"Yes. Now's the time." Some data appeared in Flare's hands. "Gregar had a theory, but neither of us managed to try it..." Said Flare. "Stand back, okay?"

Everyone stepped away a bit. Gregar looked on. "Wait, are you-"

"Here goes!" Said Flare confidently, holding out her arm. The chip floated up a bit. "Writing data!" There was a blaze of orange soul energy around her hand which engulfed the chip. It wrapped around Flare's arm, and spread over her body.

"What is she doing?!" Said Treble in wonder.

"Making one hell of a chip!" Replied Gregar. "I can't believe I forgot to!"

There was a flash as Flare was replaced by CB-Flare. The orange energy cascaded around the chip, and then in one great sweep, it vanished. Flare landed, wings folding. She sat, breathing heavily. The chip floated down. "THAT TOOK MORE POWER THAN I EXPECTED..." She shrunk back to normal, and picked up the chip. "But it worked. Whewww... I think I need to log out after that."

"How much energy did you use?!" Said Alias.

"All of it at once." Said Flare. "But here's the result." She handed the chip to Alias and disappeared, logging out.

"...'Flare attacks with FeatherMissile and StormTornado!' This... this is a giga chip. Gregar, you were right." Said Alias.

Gregar nodded. "Ever since Arthur used that giga chip for Treble, I realised we could have them too..."

"Scilabs used a machine to make mine." Said Treble.

"Oh." Said Gregar. "I worked out it might be possible by taking an SP chip and empowering it. I guess now I won't have to use up that copy of my SP chip."

"It costs zenny to use." Said Ember. "Are you going to make a giga chip too?"

"Well, now's the time to gather our strength. Spending zenny is overrated." Said Gregar. "And my beast form's bigger than hers, so actually stand back this time." A chip appeared in his hands. "Unleashing!" Unlike Flare, he transformed immediately, and his green energy engulfed the chip instantly, just like before. He seemed to be better at letting his power loose, and in only half the time the soul-aura burned out, leaving the chip to descend. Gregar sat. "UGH... YEAH, LOGGING OUT. MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS LAST..."

"Bye Gregar!" Said Treble as Gregar disappeared.

Alias took the chip. "'Gregar attacks with SuperBite and TailGatling!' So, in the space of like two minutes we just got two giga chips."

Treble looked at the two of them kind of hopefully. "Arthur... do you think we could trade for-"

"Of course." Said Arthur. "I can see why you'd want it. And I have exactly the right thing to trade it for." He slotted in the GSTreble giga chip.

"Alias, I want to trade." Said Treble.

"Uh, with what?" Said Alias.

Treble held up his giga chip. "Do you think Flare would mind that we..."

"Do it in person." Said Ember. "...It'll be a bit more special if you exchange them yourselves."

"You're right!" Said Treble. "...Can you keep it a secret for me? I'll surprise her with it."

"Of course." Said Alias.

 **Author's notes: I didn't go into detail on a lot of things to prevent his chapter being longer than an aircraft carrier, but when RushAlias eventually reaches here, then you can always ask him to expand on what you want to. Fun fact, I determined the result of the chip trader by actually going into BN6 and using a trader. Winberries are real things, sometimes known as Huckleberries (particularly in parts of America). Get their juice on anything and I swear you will never get it out, you can strip it down to the individual threads and soak them in concentrated bleach, winberries don't care. The Falzar chip is the same as in-game, but I changed the Gregar giga chip from FireBreath and rockfall to help differentiate it from GSTreble.  
**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: Yesh, inderd.**

 **RandyPandy: And downtime over... But hopefully we're all feeling refreshed now?**


	36. Chapter 36: The secret war

The PET beeped. And beeped. And beeped again. Arthur inwardly groaned, forcing an eye open. Even though it was late summer and there was a lot of light each day, it was barely dawn. "Treble... is it urgent?"

"It's from Chaud. Probably? I'll read it... 'Arthur, your requested week is over. Come to Scilabs by 8AM. We'll discuss what you can do. Your two friends William and Joe are also being sent offers to rejoin us.' I guess we'd better get going."

"What's the time now?"

"Six?"

"Ugh."

* * *

The journey was uneventful. Joe was a bit stiff from the early start, William shrugged it off. they walked straight into Scilabs. Arthur turned to the front desk. "We're here to see Chaud."

"He's in room three. is it urgent?"

"No ma'am."

"Okay, if you could just wait here for ten minutes? He's briefing someone at the moment." Said the receptionist.

"Got it." Arthur sat down. He looked around. "I wonder where Denny is right now? He's practically started living here."

"He's been here all this time?" Said Joe. "I was wondering why he was never in when I went to call for him. How's his replacement navi?"

"They're getting along alright." Said Arthur. "Although the navi comes off as... a bit stuck up, to say the least."

William made an incredulous face. "Oh my god. Arthur just voluntarily insulted someone. In other news, pigs are flying and all the planets have aligned."

"Come on, I insult people sometimes!" Said Arthur.

"...Do you?" Questioned Joe.

"Um... emphasis on sometimes."

"Still, who is this navi?"

"Beta. They're a really, really big perfectionist."

"But I bet they can fight pretty well!" Added Treble.

"Wait, we mustn't reveal anything about them. Remember the situation?" Said Arthur. "Especially when you factor in Gregar."

"Well, we now know Beta is linked to Gregar." said Joe. "Watch your tongue."

"Chaud is free now." Announced the receptionist. "Have a nice day."

"I'll try." Said Arthur. The three got up and started going down the corridor. Arthur stopped when he ran into a certain scientist. "Oh, wait a moment!"

Wily turned. "Hm? Arthur. I see you've come to help out."

"Yes. I just wanted to say thanks for that signal booster you made a while ago. It really helped me out! I just didn't get a chance to say thanks."

"Yuichiro did the hard work, I only made the core. But your thanks are appreciated." Said Wily.

"I'll see you later. I shouldn't keep Chaud waiting."

"No, you shouldn't. Off with you."

* * *

The three stepped into the room Chaud was using. "Just in time." Said Chaud. "We need some competent operators right now."

"How can I help?" Said Arthur. "I would like to know the general state of things, as well."

"Eurasia is striking only in sneak attacks. They can't match ProtoMan, let alone MegaMan- and they know it, unfortunately. Plus they're going heavily against their own government. The problem is that that government can't do anything to stop Eurasia right now because of two very important reasons. Firstly, we don't have enough evidence to prove Eurasia is behind the attacks. But their tactics are a perfect match and nowhere else, barring us, has the technology to make use of programs like Treble, so I don't see another possible cause."

"What's the second problem?"

"Eurasia makes up a very large part of Wirope's current standing in affairs on the net, and it nearly has a monopoly on their development. If Wirope loses them, then as a country the economy will crash."

"...They're using an entire country as a meat shield?"

"Not how I would have worded it, but not inaccurate. We have to tread delicately. The officials are international and we have a lot of authority, but we're not above law. For now, we're focusing on protecting our five superprograms. But we need to gather evidence on exactly what Eurasia is doing, and how, when, and most importantly- why?"

"But that's obvious, right? Treble alone can stand up to Bass, even if we can't quite win a fight. that kind of power makes millions."

"Euraisa already has billions. And replicating any of these programs would need the knowledge of the original creators, so they couldn't patent the coding techniques either."

"Can you just call me a navi instead?" Asked Treble. "Program sounds weird. it would be like me calling you Human all the time."

"Either way, Eurasia wants to use them for something, so we mustn't let them have them. But the problem is that they're also doing something else."

"What?"

Chaud brought up some images on a screen. "They've been attacking random places. We can't work out why, but I think it's meant to try and bait out our stronger fighters. We need to intercept these attacks and find out who's behind them, or the public's going to start losing faith in the officials."

"Then that seems like our job." Said William. "If you're right and it's to bait out Treble then we need to counter-bait, and be ready to jump in when they strike."

"Glad to know we're on the same page." Said Chaud. "We're assigning you two as guards, but all three of you will be kept up to date on Eurasia movements. Your job is capture, not delete, since we need information."

"Question." Said Arthur. "What about Ethan? Is he protected?"

"Yes, actually." Said Chaud. "He may not know it, but we've had ShadowMan trailing his navis at all times. If there's an attack before I can formally bring him in for protection and service, then he should be okay."

"Right, then. Give me orders and I'll follow." Said Arthur.

"...We want to try and find and intercept Eurasia's next strike force. Denny has been a surprisingly good recruitment for us, and he should be able to direct you. He's in the aviator room. Joe, William? If you could stay here for a moment, there are some things I need to explain to you regarding Treble and our other superprograms."

* * *

"Denny?"

"In here. I take it you've joined us in our secret war?"

"...'Secret war'... that sounds pretty cool." Said Treble.

"So, give me the details." Said Arthur.

Denny pulled up a screen. "This is a map of places Eurasia has tried to attack. They haven't managed to cause damages, we wouldn't have let you go on break if they could have, but personally I think they've just been testing the water, so to speak."

"But where do we fit in? I want to be useful." Said Arthur.

"Heh, you remind me of... never mind. They strike in small squadrons, so I want you to take on the enemy leader when we intercept. Your goal isn't to delete them, we need to capture them to get the information that will bring down Eurasia."

"Battle is my forte." Said Treble, before looking confused for a moment. "...Weird feeling I've said that before somewhere."

"Okay. Who's going to deal with the underlings?"

"That would be me." Said a new voice. Arthur turned to see Burn. "Judging by our data, they'll have to pass through this choke point, where they can't run."

"Oh, a pincer move? I get it. Who's blocking the retreat, who's hitting the front?"

"Treble's signature is extremely distinctive, and therefore hard to hide." Reminded Denny. "So SteamMan will be the one who flanks."

Treble giggled a bit. "The massive heavy guy is going to be playing stealthy assassin, and the speedster is going to be walling enemies off."

"You're hardly a speedster when you transform. I'd say this'll be more like putting them between a rock and a hard place." Said Arthur. "When do we move?"

"Twenty minutes until we set up the ambush. Prepare yourself as best you can, and I'll be watching over you." Denny sounded different, more confident. Arthur thought he seemed like he belonged here, being 'mission control' seemed to suit him... although perhaps anything would suit Denny.

* * *

"Ready, Treble?"

"Of course? Destruction but totally allowed AND for a good cause?" Treble was hiding in plain sight. The choke point was quite remote, so no other navis were around, hence the reason it was a great ambush site. Treble was just standing around, looking out over the area like a moody teen, while wrapped in Bass' cloak. He wasn't immediately recognisable with the cloak's hood pressing his frills down and masking his body, so most passersby wouldn't give him a second thought.

"...Just how comfortable is that cloak? I'm curious."

"Hm. It's pretty soft, and kind of warm, but having my frills pressed down is really just..." Treble put a hand to the back of his head. "Don't like it."

"Strange to think something that was just a token of respect could help us out so much."

"Yeah..."

They waited for a while, until Burn spoke. "Here they are. I have a positive identification, and there's no innocents nearby."

Treble walked out to the centre of the path, seeing the oncoming band of foes. Five were just mass-produced underlings, one was clearly a custom-made program.

"Throw the cloak off like a badass." Suggested Arthur.

Treble grabbed the cloak, and managed to follow the instruction, sending it to the side in a mass before it disappeared back into the PET.

The leader of the squad seemed to hesitate, before moving forwards. "...Stand aside. I have no business with you."

"Not even my kidnapping? Or attacking my friends?" Said Treble. He could have managed to sound like he was actually some kind of tough badass, but he said it lightheartedly and surely. "C'mon."

"Attack!" Yelled the squad leader. The five others were as tough as bricks and twice as dumb, or they clearly didn't know what Treble was capable of. The leader started running away.

"Transform. Let's see if we can capture." Said Arthur. The advance was pre-loaded.

Two of the five were knocked flat on their backs by the transformation, but the other three didn't hesitate at all to keep charging.

"AirHockey, Thunder in. Spread the attacks."

As it turns out, bricks are not actually very tough. They're brittle and they shatter when you hit them with a giant drill. The third enemy furthered the whole comparison with bricks by having their reflexes, and standing in front of that drill. Treble hadn't been trying particularly hard, but they were blown to dust. He stepped forwards and fried four and five with a wave of lightning breath, leaving only the two he'd floored intact.

"YOU GUYS NEED TO HAVE BETTER ARMOUR I'M TRYING TO NOT DELETE YOU IN ONE HIT!" Said Treble in frustration.

They got back up without so much as a response. "I think they're mindless." Frowned Arthur. "Like, drones or something. Try just stepping on them."

Treble batted one into the floor without putting any effort into his attack. The damage from the blow was still almost enough to delete. "WOW, THESE GUYS ARE REALLY FLIMSY."

"Burn, how are you doing?"

"If you want to take on this guy, be my guest. I can't get too close without risking him getting past me."

"Treble, change of plans. Let's just go straight for the leader."

"HERE I COME, YOU COWARD!" Taunted Treble.

The leader immediately tried to run past SteamMan, who punched him back. Treble tackled them at running speed, knocking them into the floor and dragging them along for a bit. Much to his satisfaction, they weren't deleted by that. SteamMan stepped forward. "You're under arrest. Will you come quietly?"

The leader's eyes suddenly widened. He activated some kind of radio on his torso and shouted "Two is in play! Repeat, two is in- glhk!" SteamMan was holding his mouth shut. The enemy glowed for a second, and Arthur realised what was happening.

"He's self-destructing! Let go!"

SteamMan couldn't get his hand off in time, but was made of sterner stuff than the tissue paper Eurasia's strike force had been. His front was blackened a little, but he seemed fine. But the capture was gone. "Darn."

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN, TWO IS IN PLAY? IS THAT ME?"

"It has to be." Said Burn. "We were already intercepting them full-time."

"...I don't like this. Something feels wrong. If only I could explain it..." Said Arthur.

"Well, I suppose the mission is a success. It was really just a practice thing to give you a feel of what we'll be doing, honestly." Shrugged Denny. "I'll get back to info-gathering."

There was a huge crackle outside. "What was that?!" Said Arthur. "It sounded electrical!"

Burn peered out of the window. "...Is that smoke?"

Arthur followed his gaze. "It's coming from the train station! The timing on this... you don't think it could be-"

"Let's not rush out." Denny's voice was stern. "I- uh, Chaud'll have Lan investigate first, since he's not a priority target for Eurasia despite his amazing record. You and I will get into position to act as his reinforcements."

"And me?" Said Burn.

"Get Wily and Blaze, and organise yourselves defensively around Scilabs. Bait can be to draw people away from a target as well as towards it."

"Oh, there goes Lan." Said Arthur, watching the boy hop down the flight of stairs on rollerskates like it was nothing. "Is it too much to hope this is a co-incidence? ...Probably. Let's go, Denny!"

"Beta, jack out." Said Denny.

* * *

They ran up to the train station to see a crowd outside. Lan was at the gates. "Oh, hi guys. Did you come to help?"

"What's going on?" Asked Denny.

"The power's gone haywire." Said Lan. "An important capacitor was blown out, and the system is refusing to stabilise... I can't seem to get to the main computer, either. I need the CopyBot, but it's recharging..."

"We'll back you up. You're legendary at resolving crises like this." Said Arthur.

"Follow me! I'll show you the problem." Lan gestured for them to come into the station. Once inside, Arthur couldn't see what was wrong until Lan opened a large metal door. "This is the station control. I have a friend here, actually. He's managed to stop the trains, so we only need to worry about ourselves."

"Yeah... Is that wire live?" Said Denny with a scowl. He pointed to the ceiling. A mass of cables were hanging down.

"This is the problem." Explained Lan. "When that capacitor blew up, the force knocked all these wires off the ceiling and melted off the insulation. I can shut off the power to them briefly, but I couldn't get through without getting shocked."

"I used to have an Elec navi. Let me shut off the power, I can probably do it better." Offered Denny. "...But judging by the positioning of these wires, I won't be able to get in further before the automatic routines reboot it."

"So then it'll be me and Lan." Said Arthur. "Hopefully we can adapt to the situation."

"With teamwork, everyone is stronger." Said Lan.

Denny pointed his PET to the console. "Beta online. Find the program, first disable the subroutine 32, then shut it off. You are not to damage it."

"Acknowledged." Responded Beta.

"Okay power goes out on three... One, two, three!" Shouted Denny. Lan and Arthur quickly pushed past the cables.

Arthur flinched as he brushed one that was hot. "Ow! ...We better fix this quick, or the station might catch fire! ...Aw man, I liked this jacket." The sleeve had charred, but not burned through.

"I see a jack in-port." Said Lan. There was a 'pop' and suddenly the room was plunged into darkness.

"Power surge." Called Denny. "Looks like they're running through the system. Watch out in there."

"Jack in, MegaMan! Execute!" Said Lan. "We'll find the power and shut it off!"

"Okay!" Arthur nodded, looking around. _If this is a trap... WHERE is the trap?_ "I'm going to go ahead and try and get the door to the next room open. It has an electronic lock. Treble, hunt!"

* * *

Treble appeared in the door computer, and looked around. "I see a LOT of viruses! No way these got in here by accident!"

"Can you still open the lock?"

"Not sure, the layout in here is a bit weird! Just give me a few minutes!" Said Treble, charging. A few viruses turned to attack, and battle began.

"They're all elec. CornShot2, in twice!"

While Treble still had no idea exactly why corn was one of the most effective weapons available, the blast of grass from the strange weapon first sent a PulseBulb to deletion, before he turned nimbly to dodge a Magneaker, and raked it with one expert slash before blasting it. "Get any data?"

"MagBomb1, but push on!" Urged Arthur.

"Right!" Treble ran forwards, and saw a series of strange panels. "Something's wrong with the floor here!"

"Lan, is this door connected to the mainframe?"

"Yes!" Called Denny. "For some reason. What kind of idiot connects the locks to the easily hacked main system?"

"Yeah, everywhere does it honestly." Said Lan. "Terrible for security, but hey, it lets us save this place!"

"Oh, I see the locking mechanism ahead!" Said Treble. He stepped forwards, onto the strange panels, and then jumped back. "They've been affected by the power surge! I think if I put too much weight on them, they'll collapse!"

"Good thing you're fast, then." Said Arthur. "Don't try jumping, the sudden force would be worse than running over normally. If you think one's not safe, don't go over and find another way. I'll keep watch for viruses."

"Okay, here I go!" Shouted Treble before sprinting forwards. True to prediction, the walkway started crumbling behind him until he reached the next 'safe' area.

"On your left! LongBlade in!"

Treble just managed to duck under a blast of lightning from a scarecrow, before cutting it apart in one solid swing. "Nice! Where next, the path branches..."

"Left. If I transform you, you can leap across to the lock from there." Said Arthur.

"Here I gooo!" Repeated Treble, dashing across the dissolving walkway. He tried to jump at the end, which was a bad mistake. The floor gave way like putty, and his foot went right through. "Ah!" The path was crumbling behind him fast.

"Dash in!" Arthur slammed the chip he'd been searching for in.

Treble clutched the green artifact and held it forwards, before being accelerated through the floor until he bumped against solid tiles and hoisted himself up. "Too close!"

"Here's your combo. Let's get that door open, I don't want this place burning." Said Arthur as he fed in the chips.

Treble shared the sense of urgency, and jumped the moment he'd transformed. "YEAH, THIS WAS DEFINITELY SOMEONE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! THERE'S A BATTERY OF CANGUARDS SET UP!"

"Charge them!" Ordered Arthur. "They can't stop you!"

He was right, and the CanGuards blazed uselessly against Treble's iron hide, before he bowled one over and crunched another one into junk data. He turned and eviscerated another one into three strips, before Arthur fed in a fire chip and let him end things there and then with a sea of fire breath. Treble shrunk back and went to work on the lock. "Can I just bug it open?"

"...Okay, it'll need replacing anyways." Said Arthur. There was a flicker on the door as a little red LED turned green. "Door's open, Treble back! Lan, how are you doing?"

"Pretty well! I just need to restore this and we can keep the surges from spreading to the town... Done! Let's go, we have to save the station!"

They burst into a room. Someone was already sitting at one of the desks, operating furiously. He looked over to see Lan. "Just who I need!" He said jovially. "ChargeMan's got the trains to stop, but if one of those surges gets down the line to reach them we're going to have a problem!"

"Okay! We'll go after the cause of the surges, we're good at fixing data! Arthur, you find whoever did this! They're likely to still be here to try and see things through! Jack in, MegaMan! Execute!"

"Once again, Treble hunt!" Arthur went for a port marked 'main access', reasoning it would be able to reach most of the areas.

The TrainStationComputer was a mess. While the outer areas that Lan, Arthur and Denny had dealt with were something of pushovers, this was flooded with stronger viruses and worse, a lot of the flooring was wrecked. Treble picked his way through, and saw a Navi in the distance. "Hey! You there!" He shouted.

The navi turned, and Treble realised they were really bulky. In fact, they were... a train? "I'm ChargeMan, Whoo Whoo! On your side!"

"He's mine." Confirmed the conductor. "Ohh... I don't like this crumbling ground! It's hell to get around when the ground's broken!"

"Does anyone have PanelReturn?" Said Arthur.

"Back at Scilabs." Sighed Lan. "Oh, I do have Sanctuary. That could replace some of these damaged walkways, I guess."

"Ah, I know." Said the conductor. "Do you have a fire navi? I have a LavaStage here, so if you can walk over lava without taking damage... ChargeMan has to stay there, or trains might try coming through this station."

"Do you think you could handle lava if you were transformed?"

"Arthur, I'd walk through fire for you anyday. It doesn't even hurt that much if you're not a wood-element."

"...Thanks." Arthur took the chip off the conductor. "Let's try using this if anywhere's particularly broken."

Treble continued to go through the area, walkways crumbling away behind him. The constant stream of viruses was annoying, but the fear of just dropping into the coding void was worse. "We've searched everywhere! Where are they?!"

Arthur focused, trying to think if they'd missed anywhere. Then he realised. Faintly, he could smell smoke. Nothing was on fire yet, Denny would have warned him, but... Of course! "Use your sense of smell." Said Arthur calmly. "Maybe it could give you a hint."

"..." Treble sniffed. "...Clever." He said, to nobody in particular. "I've got it. They're this way, we're close!" He got over a large area, and then looked forwards. "Darn, the walkway's totally broken!"

"I'll send LavaStage. Are you ready?"

"I wasn't kidding about walking through fire. I have loads of health, anyway!"

"LavaStage in. I'll have a recovery ready." Said Arthur. The smell of smoke was getting stronger. He felt a twinge of fear, but shoved it aside.

Treble gestured and the ground was replaced with a sea of lava, solid and walkable, but painful. He didn't say anything, and just ran forwards. "AAAAaaahooo!" He hopped off the end. It wasn't actual lava, at thousands of degrees and instantly lethal, but it still hurt a lot to a non-fire-element.

"Recover120." Said Arthur. "Good job... and thanks."

Treble looked around as his damage was repaired. "They're here. I'm sure of it..."

"Your buster auto-targets. I know we hardly use it, but maybe it could find our target?"

Treble formed the weapon, and fired it. It bent upwards, and the pellet pinged off a hidden target, who flickered and became visible.

"...Damn! I didn't expect you'd be able to find me in the air!" They said. They were dressed in green, oddly enough for an elec user. A flowing robe of coding ran around them, fading into nothing near the feet, but it had no sleeves. Their arms had small wing-shaped bits of armour as gauntlets, and their navi mark was on their forehead.

"Here to ambush me, I guess?" Treble stared at them, and by the moment of silence knew he was right. "Face me!"

"I will not falter!" They shouted.

"Treble, destroy!" Ordered Arthur. He looked at the name of the enemy, that appeared on the screen on his PET. SageMan.

Treble went for a melee engage, and SageMan clapped his hands together, quickly arranging his fingers into some kind of sign. A bolt of lightning struck between them, and Treble halted his attack and started to fire with his buster. It wasn't particularly fast, but each shot found its mark and stung.

"BugAura, UnifyCode, FlareEX in!"

Treble was enveloped in the protective bubble and went in for a charge again. SageMan frantically dodged the first swipe of claws, and twisted before thrusting out his hand and letting out a sudden bolt of lightning. He moved gracefully, leaping from the floor by small amounts and blasting out electricity, but it was absorbed harmlessly by the aura.

SageMan held one arm up. "Winds! Obey my command!"

Treble felt the winds trying to strip the aura, but they weren't from a NorthWind chip and he was just about able to keep it up, until SageMan loaded an ElecSword and brought it down, faster than before and breaking through the weakened Aura. Treble would have dodged, but realised these winds were making it harder for him to move, and easier for SageMan. But he had the perfect answer.

Flare's copy appeared next to Treble, and they attacked together. Flare easily handled the winds, and her buster sprayed over SageMan ruthlessly. Treble forced his way forwards, and as Flare darted up and delivered a one-two with her talons, he was waiting on the ground. SageMan tried to keep out of range, but Treble leapt up and drove his claws into SageMan's leg. SageMan grimaced. "N-no!"

"Yyyes!" Said Treble. He'd bugged him. There was a reason he was effective at fighting navis in particular. SageMan shakily descended, his flight starting to fail.

"Thunder, GregarEX, LongBlade in!"

In a single blow, the odds had tipped dramatically in Treble's favour. SageMan held his hands out to the sides, and two beams of thunder appeared. SageMan took a combat stance. Treble went in, and clashed attacks. The electricity coursed through him painfully when they locked strikes, but he could see the fear in SageMan's eyes, his own battle lust keeping him on the offensive. SageMan parried valiantly, but eventually his lightning swords were too bugged to use. One failed, and that was it. Treble slammed the thunder into his face, and then Gregar's copy appeared. Treble mimicked it, and fired his buster, before leaping forwards. Gregar struck with his claws from the right, Treble from the left, and then Treble followed through with the LongBlade as Gregar stabbed him with an aura attack.

SageMan was nearly knocked off the platform. Treble was about to land a deleting blow when Arthur called. "Wait! We need him alive!"

Treble pinned him.

SageMan groaned. "...I will never talk. My loyalty is absolute!"

"Well. You're still under arrest." Said Treble, shaking off the combat fever. It had been a while since he got into a good fight.

"Lan, surges?"

"Got them while you were fighting. We should be safe."

An explosion in the computer snapped Arthur's attention back to it. Treble seemed okay, but he'd been made to take a few steps back by the unexpected attack. Two more navis were standing next to SageMan. One in blue, wearing an honestly beautiful dress and with gauntlets that had a wave design. And one in red, wearing what appeared to be a martial artist's Gi with heavy-set fists.

"You will not capture him!" Said the one in blue, levelling a large polearm out of nowhere, the dress obviously not impacting her dexterity. The polearm had a curved end, one side a blade and the other like a cresting wave.

"You're goin' though us first! If ya can!" Said the red one.

Treble looked like he was about to attack, when Arthur noticed something wrong. A shadow on the ground behind Treble, moving closer. "Hidden enemy behind you!" He warned.

Treble tensed, then spun and made a vicious strike across the air behind him. A fourth navi became visible, in gray. They were covered in the same flowing code as the other three, this time wrapping his face and torso only, they rest a simple jumpsuit. He staggered back, hand over the three grooves.

"Who are you people?!" Demanded Treble. Arthur was worried. Four to one was NOT good.

"..." The gray one frowned.

"It doesn't matter! You're coming with us!" Said the red one.

"Keep them talking." Said Arthur. "Lan, help! I don't want to try a one-versus-four with these guys."

"Aw, come on!" Said Treble casually. "I have to know your names, what else do I call you? Red, Blue, Green, Gray?"

"Your distraction tactics will not work on us!" Said Blue.

"Well they are, you're talking to me!" Argued Treble.

"S-shut up!" Red.

"..." Gray sprung to his feet, and tried to strike with a throwing star of some kind. Treble dodged to the side.

"See, he knows what he's doing!" Said Treble.

Then a white panel appeared behind Treble and Gray. Arthur's spirits soared. "Now! Here's your combo, attack!" He fed in the chips as Treble was just about able to get past a jab of the spear and a palm thrust from the red one, and then he transformed. As the largest and therefore by default biggest threat, all four of the team tried to attack Treble, and failed to notice someone coming out of the link behind them. Gray was the first casualty, as an orange sword went straight through his back. As Red darted around to see what was wrong, there was a blast from a smart bomb, knocking him to the floor with his head spinning. Blue was putting up a good fight, until she tried to spear Treble in the mouth. He bit down, and while he did take a fair amount of damage from the spear, the spear didn't come out. He tossed his head, and Blue let go of her weapon just a moment too late, getting catapulted away. All four started to get to their feet, but Treble growled. "STAY DOWN." They hesitated.

MathMan and CommandoMan walked over to either side of Treble, facing the three foes in front of him, Blue Green and Red. "Just in time. Good thing NetGaia can be reasoned with in emergencies." Said MathMan. Then suddenly a pair of gray arms wrapped around him from behind.

Gray shouted. "Run!"

As Treble turned to see what was happening, there were four logout sounds. CommandoMan tried to interrupt, but the moment of distraction had been enough.

MathMan couldn't try to interrupt, because he'd also been taken. "MATHMAN!" Yelled Treble. But it was too late. The four navis had gone. And MathMan with them. "NO! NO NO NO!"

"Both of you, log out. They might return!" Said Arthur, keeping his head clear. Treble looked confilcted, but obeyed. CommandoMan followed. "...It can't be..."

"We played right into their hands..." Said Treble, devastated. "You warned me about running off into a trap, and..."

"Hey, I didn't spot it either. For now, we need to work quickly if we want to save MathMan. Let's get back to Denny!" Said Arthur. "Lan, can you handle the station?"

"Leave it to me!" Said Lan. "Go help your friend!"

* * *

"It's no use." Said Joe. "They took him with them in the logout. If they were from Eurasia, then he's halfway across the world now."

"I'm so sorry..." Whispered Arthur. "If I'd just had the presence of mind to take SageMan into holding more quickly-"

"But you didn't. It's no use wondering what could have been." Said Denny. "Just let that be a lesson. You can't go anywhere alone."

"Right. I won't let one loss stop me protecting everyone, but... no, how can I say that after just failing to protect MathMan?"

"Hey, MathMan was my fault too!" Insisted Treble. "I could have saved him, if I'd just been faster!"

"Anyway. MathMan is the least of our worries now." Said Denny. "I think Eurasia was waiting for you to come into action, Arthur."

"What?!"

"Their activity has almost quadrupled in the last few hours. They may be about to launch something major." Said Denny.

"That's bad." William considered everything for a moment. "Strategy meeting?"

"In progress." Said Denny. "I want to know more about those four navis you encountered. They were clearly a cut above."

"I got their names when they fought me." Said Treble. "SageMan. FightingMan. LeviathWoman, and PhantomMan. They were strong, but... I feel like they weren't well-trained."

"Typical Eurasia." Said Joe bitterly. "PhantomMan must have been the one to take MathMan."

Blaze came into the room. "Arthur! Is Treble okay?!"

"We got outplayed." Said Arthur. "Treble's fine, but one of my friends had his navi kidnapped."

"No way..." Said Blaze.

"Let's go get Ethan, before anything else." Said Arthur. "Eurasia is a lot more dangerous than I anticipated- we can't leave him vulnerable."

"If you're not called on for something, good plan. Remember though, they're gunning for you." Said William. "Do you want me to go?"

"Please. Are you sure you'll be alright if you're attacked?"

"We're soldiers." Said William. "ArsenalMan, jack in, we need to get down to Eastfall immediately!"

Arthur put a hand on his forehead. "If I'd known that my break ending would unleash this kind of mess I'd have... nevermind."

Joe shrugged. "For now, take this." He held out a chip. "Eurasia wants to mess with us like this? Well I'll have you know, two can play at that game. I'll go get all my chips and zenny, start us something of an armory." He was trying to play it off, but Arthur could hear the hurt in his voice.

Arthur took the chip. It was FolderBack. The chip prized by any netbattler worth their salt. Normally Arthur would have been shocked, but right now? He was far too determined to let that show. "...Thank you. I'll do everything I can not to make a mistake again. I'll protect this country- AND I'll keep Treble safe while doing it."

"We're all behind you." Said William, looking to the side.

"But speech won't win a fight. Everyone, make yourselves useful." Instructed Denny. They obliged.

 **Author's notes: So, there's a pretty obvious inspiration behind those four antagonists! While I'm basing their abilities and personalities on the originals, I WILL be changing aspects lot to be more battle-network styled. Also, don't take Eurasia lightly- they're fighting dirty.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JaneValentine007_ : Thanks! I love worldbuilding, it really adds to the immersion and fleshes out characters so much. Although it can be hard to write. Lemonheads can hurt, but once I had a load of salt and vinegar pringles and sort of burned my mouth- that wasn't painful, but it was oddly scary when the 'burn' lasted three days. Auugh, getting randomly hit with terminal-velocity puke would be one way to wreck a day. **

**RandyPandy: Oops! I'll get and fix that, thanks for catching me. Claw machines are honestly the purest form of thievery on the planet, I DESPISE them. Vertigo is honestly much worse than actually falling, in my opinion.**


	37. Chapter 37: Water

Arthur followed Joe out of the room. "Joe?"

"...Yeah." Sighed Joe.

"Are you... I'm sorry."

"Why? I'm the netop."

"...I shouldn't have been there. Before we went in, I was warned that I couldn't afford to be isolated, but I was so caught up in-"

"Quiet. Please." Said Joe. "I just- I'd like to be alone for a second."

Arthur stopped, and watched Joe walk off. "..."

"Don't get caught up." Said Treble. "It's really sad, and... I'm probably going to be sad about it for a while, but we can't give up! Maybe they won't delete him?"

"...Be careful which hopes you hold on to. But you're right. We can't waste time. Let's go talk to Chaud. I try to be nice and moral normally, but revenge sounds really nice right now."

"Perks of having godlike powers and cybeasts on speed dial. I can't wait to tear them apart." Said Treble.

* * *

"Eurasia was definitely waiting for you to make the first move." Said Chaud. "It's no accident they hit the train station- they want you in cyber city, where they can predict you more easily."

"Blast. Again, how's Ethan doing?"

"We need to fix the trains to bring him down. They haven't attacked him yet, but the chances are high."

"Okay, then what do I do next?"

"There are four priority targets in Cyber city. Eurasia seems to be poised to attack them." Said Chaud. "The power plant, the water works, the courts, and scilabs."

"...Interesting. And four navis that attacked Treble. Co-incidence?"

"More likely tailored especially for each target. The problem is, if we give you a mission, Eurasia will jump at you. The same for Wily or Denny."

"We'll use NetGaia to get in and out fast. That might make things easier."

"I was about to ask you to. We can hopefully force their hands into striking some places, in which case we'll send you in and crush them. Until then, ProtoMan has a reputation to uphold."

"But again, what do I do next?"

"Watch your tone."

 _I didn't- never mind._ Arthur groaned internally. "I don't want to do nothing while people risk themselves on my behalf."

"We'll counterattack the moment they start each assault. Until then, don't go on the net alone. I recommend you find Blaze and see if you can help her. She's already got a lot of experience stemming Eurasia." Said Chaud.

"Okay."

* * *

"Um... Well, there is something you can do." Said Blaze, after Arthur came to her. "We need to clear up central area a bit. All the officials are focused on being able to intercept an attack as soon as it happens, so none can clean up the debris from that fight."

"I'll get to it. Wait, are you sure the area's safe?"

"It's literally surrounded. Because it's so central, attacking you there would be suicide." Said Blaze. "Sorry, I gotta get down to the- Uh, secret."

"I won't delay you. Good luck."

Blaze nodded and sprinted out of the room.

"Well, Treble, hunt. Let's go and clean up central area while we wait... for Eurasia to make a move. Jeeeeeez, I hate this. I know it's strategically sound, but..."

"Yeah, I want to take the fight to them too." Said Treble. "And I- I'm worried sick about Flare. What if she gets attacked out of nowhere?"

"Then she'll rip them in half." Said Arthur certainly.

That seemed to reassure Treble. "Yeah, you're right. She's no damsel in distress. Let's go clean up some mess! Huh?"

Arthur looked to see a navi right next to Treble. Maybe a bit shorter than him, with black-green clothing that was familiar. "Oh, hey there Colonel."

"Gregar? Is that you? What happened to you?" Said Colonel in confusion.

"Uh... you know Gregar? You're still in beta testing by the looks of things." Said Treble. "And don't touch me unless you're immune to bugs. Trust me!"

"This is my navi, Treble." Said Arthur. "I was only operating Gregar temporarily."

"Aw." Said Colonel.

"Who ARE you?" Said Treble. "You look exactly like Gregar's disguise, but shorter. And your voice is a bit higher. Maybe a tiny bit different."

"I'm Colonel. I'm in development, but I think I'm going to be a program for hunting criminals. Look, Arthur! I learned the routines for ScreenDivide!" Colonel drew a red-handled blade, took a firm stance and swung his saber. A few paces forwards, a gold line cut the air.

"Cool!" Said Treble.

"We need to go along for now, so stay safe. Tell Iris hello from me." Said Arthur.

"We should battle once you're finished!" Offered Treble. Colonel didn't get a chance to reply, as Treble was already off. He was nearly to the central area when he asked "When did you operate Gregar?"

"It was while he was in holding here, and you were with Falzar. Scilabs was attacked head-on. One assassin slipped through and went for Colonel and his sister, Iris, but Gregar ate them."

"Ate them, huh?"

"He was pretty angry."

"He's always angry."

"Not always..."

"I guess he's okay when he has a good reason." Treble came into the central area. It was a huge mess, the Underground having been slammed right through it. "So are we just going to go around and delete the debris?"

"It might be better if you used your transformed strength to shift some of the huge piles of mess." Suggested Arthur. He was about to put in some chips when there was a shout from the lobby.

Arthur heard William yell "Arthur, I need a hand! Urgent!"

Arthur nearly choked. "Treble! Get a NetGaia link open to ArsenalMan right now!"

Treble went from lighthearted and casual to fully alert in a spilt second. "Chip! Link to ArsenalMan! Emergency!" A panel glowed in front of him. The panel barely glowed before Treble jumped through. The first thing he saw was CommandoMan, firing away. He realised there was a swarm of Eurasia navis moving against him. They were about to overrun CommandoMan when Treble jumped clear over him, and kicked the nearest one in the face. Treble didn't kick often, but had claws on his feet nonetheless. A few turned to attack him, but they were only a little beyond the tissue-paper-grade of the first lot, and couldn't deal even remotely meaningful damage before Treble grabbed the closest two and threw them like ragdolls, bowling more over. They started getting back up automatically and stiffly, and then a smart bomb blew most of them away.

"That was fast." Said CommandoMan, as he reverted. "I think they're trying to surround the entirety of Eastfall area."

"But that would take thousands of navis!"

ArsenalMan shrugged. "So? These guys are flimsy but obviously mass-produced and mindless. If they just swarmed someone who wasn't expecting it then they could probably weaken them badly enough for those four to strike again. Although hopefully they're in repair right now."

"We need to try and pick this apart before they can attack."

"Yes, but they're hiding. Remember, neither they nor us want to bring the public into this." Said CommandoMan. "Use that sense of smell you were given, find their hiding places. I've got your back while you're out here."

"But what about Flare?"

"ShadowMan is watching over them. If anyone can evade detection it's him."

"We shouldn't waste any time, Treble. If we can take out some of their ambush groups while they're setting up then they won't have a chance of attacking Flare." Said Arthur.

"Then it's time to really hunt!"

* * *

An actual navi was ordering a batch of flimsy ones around. "Move the supplies into the cubbyhole, set up the barrier pronto." He went for a communicator. "Unit four, progress?"

"On schedule, but units three and five aren't responding."

"I'll get them." The leader fiddled with his communications program. "Unit three, respond." No reply. He frowned and flipped over to another channel. "Unit Five, respond." Still nothing. The navi would have been sweating buckets if he could've. In fear, he went for another channel. "Unit one, this is unit two. Where is everyone?!"

The communicator crackled. "Behind you~" Teased a completely unfamiliar voice.

The leader felt a presence behind him, not trying to conceal itself anymore. He turned, and was suddenly punched in the face hard enough to floor him. Treble crouched quickly. "Gotta find the self-destruct, gotta find the self-destruct!" The navi glowed, and in a small 'Bam' blew up, self-deleting. Treble growled in frustration. "Every time!"

"It's okay, we at least protected Ethan's lot." Said Arthur. "Two attacks repelled in one day!"

"Yeah, but... these guys are pretty feeble."

"...Well, we're done for now, and the trains are broken down, so we can't go home. And we shouldn't go on the main areas of the net, either." Said Arthur. "Want to explore anywhere dangerous for a bit? We're waiting for Chaud to call a mission, rather than "

"Yeah, with a few more BugFrags then I'll have another chip!"

"We can count on ArsenalMan, right?" Asked Arthur.

"It's literally our job, outside the fact we're your friends." Said William. "Where to? The Undernet? The secret area?"

"Ooh, the secret area." Said Treble. "We got the last area open, but never explored it."

"...I haven't thought about that place in ages. Why were we even going through it?"

"I don't know! But it was a cool place!"

Arthur suddenly sat bolt upright. "Change of plans. We're going to go get Zero."

Treble lit up. "Of course! He'll be on our side for sure if these guys are threatening the cybeasts, and he's going to know loads about where we can catch Eurasia! Let's go!"

* * *

An hour later, Treble looked around. "We checked everywhere we could think of..."

Arthur shrugged. "It looks like Zero was too elusive for us. If he can always see us then I suppose avoiding us is easy too... Should we go somewhere? I want to get out of this room."

"Sure! Let's go check out the city a bit more." Said Treble. "We'll need to know how to get to places, and we might find something cool."

"Okay. Back, Treble." Arthur stood up and stretched, before walking out of the room and straight into Blaze. "Uwah!"

"Whoops!" They sprung back. Blaze laughed. "Well, didn't see that coming!"

"Sorry... We've been in here for a few hours, and we can't think of anything to do, so we were going to go and check around the town. We'll need to know how to get around."

"Oh, fair enough!" Said Blaze. "If you fancy a netbattle, then I've done my daily routine."

"...What were you doing, actually?" Said Arthur.

"Most of the time when organisations set up a lot of operations on the net they make little stockpiles of resources their agents can use." Explained Ember. "We're trying to find their locations, and the passcodes for those stockpiles. Raiding them is fair game, it hurts Eurasia and helps us out."

"Hm. If you find one and you're sure it's Eurasia's, call us over. I'm sure Treble wouldn't mind trying to break down a barrier."

"They're stupidly tough." Warned Blaze. "Anyway, city or battle?"

"...City." Said Arthur. "Coming with me?"

"Nah. I need to do a couple of things here."

"Well, see you." Arthur left the room, and headed outside. He sighed. "First day, and things are already a giant mess."

Treble was upbeat as ever. "But we can handle it! Come on." His tone changed a bit. "...But, I just can't shake that feeling."

"Are you okay?"

"I know we're strong enough to beat Eurasia." Said Treble. "But they still got MathMan... I want to hope, but..."

"I know. I haven't seen Joe all day. I hope he's alright..."

"I've been avoiding thinking about it."

"...I don't think you're supposed to do that, but I appreciate that you held together for me. I see a harbour over there. Want to go scream at the sea?"

"I'd rather take it out on some viruses. That's the way for me!" Said Treble.

Something warmed in Arthur's heart. "...Yeah, it is. Let's get to that next health milestone."

* * *

The day passed away serenely. Arthur got back into Scilabs around six. Everything was strangely calm and quiet. "There are employee rooms here, right?" Arthur asked the receptionist.

"You need permission to use them, sorry."

Arthur was about to groan and resign himself to pestering Chaud late in the evening, until he heard another voice. "He can room with me." Denny.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver." Said Arthur.

"No biggie."

They went along to a room, which opened once Denny scanned his PET. It was a tiny room, with literally just a cheap bunk bed and a shelf for suitcases. "Wow. Luxurious." Deadpanned Arthur.

"I've slept in worse." Shrugged Denny. "You'd better rest up early tonight. Eurasia could strike at any time, and trust me, you don't want to have to adapt to low sleep when you're in a high-stakes battle."

"Maybe in a few hours. It's not late at all right now."

"...Hm. Have you seen Joe?"

"Not since this morning."

Denny nodded. "I'm pretty sure he's not ok. But he's surprisingly vengeful for someone so calm and logical."

"Vengeful?"

"He's created a small armory, as promised. Once the trains are back up he's going to go and get all his chips and add them to it."

Arthur sat on the bed and flinched. "Ow! There's something in the mattress!"

"Well, these aren't exactly high-quality things. Wait, actually. I know what it is."

Arthur peeled away the thin duvet to look at whatever he'd jumped onto. "Denny, did you hide your battlechips inside the bed?"

"There was nowhere else."

"Hiding them wasn't necessary."

"Force of habit, if I'm honest." Admitted Denny.

"Again with the imperfections." Chimed Beta.

"Well, I'll get out of your way so you can get them out." Arthur stepped out of the tiny room. "Hm. What should we do before I sleep?"

"Virus busting, duh!"

"Hm. But we can't go on the main net alone, and I don't want to bother William. Supervising anyone for a long time must be a strain. Hey, I know. We should send a few emails. And maybe I'll take Blaze up on her offer of a battle." Arthur got his email open and started writing one to his parents. 'Trains are down, but I'm okay and staying at Scilabs. Be wary while on the net, as there's some suspicious things afoot, but I don't think you're in danger.'

"Mail Flare!" Said Treble. "I should have thought of that sooner!"

Arthur had to think about what to put in this. While the emails were secure, giving out information freely could put Ethan in more danger. Or not. It was a tough thing to judge. 'Hey Ethan. Anything unusual happened today? We'd have invited you down to scilabs but the trains have broken down. Hopefully they'll be fixed soon. By the way... be careful on the net.'

'Hi Flare. Treble wanted me to mail you to check how you were doing. Is everything okay?' Arthur hesitated for a moment. Flare was more levelheaded than Gregar, and probably Alias and Ethan too. If anyone could be trusted with some sensitive information, it would be her. But still, he didn't know for sure she would be attacked... and telling her outright would be a terrible weight on her shoulders, especially since she'd have to keep it secret from her brother. And yet if she WAS attacked and she got hurt, it would be on his shoulders... and the grief it would in turn cause to Treble.

His thoughts were interrupted. "Something wrong? Your face got really dark for a moment."

"I was considering warning Flare. If I warn her, then she'd have to keep it secret, which would be awful for her, but it might protect her..."

"..."

"..."

"Tell her." Said Treble. He didn't sound as upbeat as normal. "It's not a choice we're really allowed to make, but I couldn't forgive myself if Flare actually got hurt and we could have done something about it."

Arthur nodded, and wrote a second message. 'Keep this message secret. The Eurasia institute of technology is after Treble, and possibly you and Gregar. They prefer to strike in numbers, in ambushes. ShadowMan is hiding to intervene if they attack you, but in case things go bad, then I'm going to have to burden you with this secret, to protect your friends. I'm sorry, but I hope you understand.' He hit send.

"Hey, Arthur. Maybe you should go buy some pyjamas?"

"...Good idea."

* * *

The nigh passed uneventfully. Arthur sat up at six in the morning, and groaned. "This mattress..." he whispered. "the battlechips were softer." He lay still, hoping that he could go back to sleep, but it was no use. He'd gone to bed incredibly early and slept for ten hours. Refreshing, but not something you could sleep again after. He lay there in boredom, not wanting to make a sound in case he woke Denny. Eventually, he reached over to his PET and activated the screen. A piercing howl immediately jolted him into dropping the PET onto the not-so-soft bed.

Treble's howl stopped abruptly. "Y-you don't wake up this early normally!"

"Are you okay?" Said Arthur, dialing down the volume in hope the second of noise hadn't been enough to wake half the building.

"...Just being sad."

"MathMan, right?"

"Two of my three closest friends are gone." Said Treble simply. "...no matter how strong I get, can I- I'm just so... so"

"Scared."

"...Yeah."

Arthur sighed. "...I'm sorry I interrupted you. But for what it's worth... I appreciate that you stayed strong. Even if you feel helpless... you've done more than a thousand navis could have to save them. And... who knows, perhaps MathMan isn't done yet? He's not like PlugMan. He might still be intact, and even if he were deleted... you could hunt down his ghost after this is over."

"You're right... I've given up hope for MathMan too early. Even if he were deleted, it wouldn't be the end for him, because they don't have Trill!"

"And they don't have Trill because of you. Never think you're powerless, or that you're capable of anything less than changing the course of history. Even now, what you've done has protected your friends."

"Changing the course of history...?" Treble had no lips to smile with, but his tail wagged a little. "Thanks. Should we get up and ready for the day? I'll fight the whole Eurasia for the sake of my friends."

"And I'll be beside you. I'd better get up, then."

Arthur was able to take two steps out of the bed before he got an email. Instead of his normal 'Beep', it played a sound considerably more urgent, and far louder, on repeat. He opened the emails and saw three unopened ones. Two replies from Ethan and Flare, and one from Chaud mere seconds ago. It was short and immediate. 'Water works, Seaside Town. Come NOW!'

Arthur took one look and decided that if Chaud was typing like that, then lives were probably on the line.

That was why most of the early risers in Cyber city saw someone sprinting down the streets in a pair of pyjamas, gripping a PET.

* * *

The first thing Arthur did when he came up to the water works was gasp. It was previously a facility that had been set up to be reliable. Blaze had pointed that out with pride. Now half of those pipes had burst, and the grounds were pooling with water. A LOT of water. Arthur looked over it and hesitated.

"You can swim, right? The PET's waterproof, I'll be fine!" Encouraged Treble.

"But the doors there, that lead to the facility." Pointed Arthur. "The water is flowing down them. If we're not careful, I'm going to end up drowning."

"Be brave!"

Arthur was looking for a weakness to exploit, something he could do to make sure he wasn't trapped in a water-filing building, when Chaud ran up behind him. "Good response timing... If questionable clothing."

"Chaud! What's the plan?"

"..." Chaud frowned. "I'm not sure. I thought the pipes would never burst, they're solid steel!"

Arthur looked on carefully. He followed orders by nature, but when there were no orders to follow... "I think I know what to do. Chaud, there must be storm drains around here if the facility could flood. I need you to focus on activating them. I'll go into the facility and focus on reducing the flow. I won't enter the pump room until you've got the storm drains."

"...I don't like risking civilian lives, but I don't have a better plan. Listen. Do not put yourself at risk. Ethics aside, you're too valuable."

"Thanks. Hopefully Blaze and company will be here soon."

"Disregarding me?" Said Denny, jogging over. "Arthur, you look ready to go do something useful, so go. Chaud! Beta should be able to get the cyber side under control, so I'll take your job of getting the drains open. You make sure nobody drowns! And Arthur! No engaging a fight until you have backup! You'll get ambushed!"

"Yes, si- I'm the superior officer here!" Said Chaud. "...But very well." Chaud dived into the water without a moment's hesitation.

Arthur heavily waded in, and then started swimming forwards. The pyjamas had just been cheap grey ones, that Arthur had secretly picked for the reason they matched Treble. He discovered they weren't even worth the meagre amount of zenny he'd spent on them as the dye ran out, turning the water a little gray. It only took a few seconds to reach the facility entrance. And then a big problem became apparent.

There was a giant metal gate in the way. With no jack-in port, just a normal padlock. "Of all the times a place could have decent security..." He groaned.

"Don't worry! Just do what I would do and smash the lock off!" Said Treble.

"...With what?"

"A hammer would do! Anything we can use as a hammer here?!"

Arthur looked around. There had to be something... Then he looked down. "Got it!" He reached for a corner, and picked up a fire extiguisher. He prepared to smash it into the lock until Treble shouted again.

"No, that's a pressurised container it'll burst!" He yelled.

Arthur was surprised at Treble's sudden presence of mind, but not ungrateful. He ripped the pin out and blasted a few gallons of foam down the corridor. "Hyah!" He slammed the extinguisher onto the lock at an angle. It caught, and just barely deformed the lock a bit. "Hah!" He slammed again. And again. And again. And finally, with one powerful blow, hit hard enough to achieve his goal. While the padlock didn't break, the rusted hinges did, and the door swung open. "Okay, here we go."

"Good job on the destruction!"

Arthur quickly read the names of each room he passed. Offices, toilets, medical room, admin... He went into the admin room. Bingo, one computer with a port. "Treble, hunt!"

* * *

The WaterWorksComputer was very, very obviously messed up maliciously. Treble looked out over the small ocean. "What happened in here? Where IS everything? There's just water!"

A Mr. Prog came over. "A Blue navi sunk the platforms below the water!"

"...Ah. LeviathWoman." Said Arthur. "Any idea on how to get them back up?"

"I know a way!" Said the Mr. Prog. "We can repair the damage, but we need someone to protect us, and someone to hold the platforms above the water!"

Treble nodded. "I can do that!"

"Both at the same time?" Questioned Arthur. "You can't hold a platform up and fight. We need backup..." He looked at the open door to the room, and shouted. "HEY! IN HERE!"

There was a splashing, and Blaze stomped into the room. "On the scene!"

"Just in time. Jack in, I need some help." Said Arthur.

"Let's go Ember!"

Ember appeared next to Treble, and saw the water. "Oh. Well, I guess it's a good thing I still have PlugCross."

"Here are the chips." Said Arthur. "Blaze, have Ember defend that while it repairs the damage."

"Right-o! PlugCross, activate!"

Ember glowed, and was adorned with wires. She floated a little off the ground, naturally. The Mr. Prog looked at her nervously. "I'll keep you safe."

Treble suddenly expanded to fill up most of the platform they were standing on. "ALRIGHT, I'M GOING IN! READY?"

"Ready." Said Ember.

GS-Treble walked down into the water, sinking below the surface. His head surfaced a bit forwards, for air. "SENDING UP A PLATFORM!"

"Watch out for bugs, Blaze. Treble causes them to anything vulnerable in his proximity, and that will include this platform." Said Arthur.

There was a rush of water as a platform surfaced. Ember looked at it distastefully, but then remembered she wasn't fire-element. She floated forwards, and the Mr. Prog followed.

"WATCH- GLUB!" Treble stuck his head up and spat some water out in a spout. "WATCH OUT! SWARM OF VIRUSES!"

"Ember, get ready!" Said Blaze.

"On it!" Ember was lightning-quick, intercepting a school of Shrimpy viruses and then blasting them with lightning. Being a living tesla coil made defending the Mr. Prog much easier, any viruses that tried to bypass her were instantly fried for double damage.

It only took a few small battles before the Mr. Prog spoke up. "All done! Whew, hoo... haa."

Treble moved away from the platform, and suddenly Ember and the got drenched as he put his front two paws up on the platform, followed by his head. "I SEE TWO MORE PLATFORMS! ARE YOU OK TO KEEP GOING?"

"Charged up." Said Ember. "Prog?"

"Ah... I'm so tired! I don't know if I can do another platform!"

Arthur frowned. "How do you refuel a Mr. Prog?"

"Like this." Said Ember. She placed a hand on the program, and it buzzed.

"Wahoo!" Yelled the Mr. Prog. "Let's go!"

Treble marched on, and came to the next platform. "HERE GOES! LIFTING!" It surfaced.

As Ember took up a defensive position, Arthur mused. "Treble, how are you actually holding that up? You don't have any hands..."

"IT'S BALANCED ON MY BACK!"

"...Suddenly, I'm glad that I can float in air." Said Ember. Then she ducked and lashed a Piranha with a cable. "Back!"

It was again relatively simple. But when they moved onto the last platform, there was a more obvious problem. "IT'S BROKEN IN HALF!"

"What?!"

"THERE'S THIS BIG CRACK!"

"...Must have shattered when it hit the bottom." Said Arthur. "Can you use your soul power to hold it together?"

"YES!"

"Wait, that would-" Started Blaze.

"I know. You'll have to activate TrebleCross to protect her from the bugs."

"...Okay, but... Ugh, I'm so worried she'll fall in."

Arthur nodded. "We'll find another way if we have to."

"I never said I wouldn't!" Said Blaze. "Ember?"

"It'll take more than a bit of water! Do it!"

"TrebleCross, go!" Said Ember.

Treble dipped under, and the platform lifted up in two halves. They'd clearly shattered, but were being forced together. The edges strongly resembled some kind of putty after exposure to the power, and there were panels missing everywhere, but Ember wasn't fazed. She gracefully leapt from safe spot to safe spot, the speed boost and thrusters granting her incredible air time. Viruses converged, and Ember moved to counter. Blaze was operating well in the uncomfortable conditions. "Battlechips! ZapRing3, MoonBlade!"

"Hah!" Ember was a blur, almost in three places at once while defending the Mr. Prog. Her life was slowly draining away as some attacks inevitably hit her, but for the most part she was holding her own. And eventually, the Mr. Prog finished. "Okay! That's everything in this area! Now let's stop the water flow!"

"Look for a way to drain the lower levels!" Said Blaze. "The boss types ALWAYS hide in the most remote places."

"Got it here, the turbine room. Draining now..." Said Ember.

"Treble, back. We'd better get down to the turbine room and take out LevaithWoman." Said Arthur. There was a giant sploosh as GS-Treble disappeared from beneath the platform. "Blaze? You okay to follow me?"

"Sure!"

They ran down the stairs.

* * *

The deepest part of the facility was dark. It wasn't meant to be, but the flooding had killed the lights. Arthur shone a light from the PET ahead. "Is this the turbine room?"

"There's a sign there." Said Blaze. "C'mon, you're normally the one who catches statements like that!"

"Guess I'm just feeling a little damped." Arthur twisted the handle open, thankful it wasn't locked.

The turbine room was a metal walkway over a stream of water. Arthur was about to question that when the door slammed shut behind him.

"Oh, that's bad." Said Blaze.

"How very eloquent of you." Came a voice. Female and refined.

"...LevaithWoman?" Said Arthur.

"Oh, you remembered my name! Flattering indeed."

"What have you done with MathMan!" Shouted Treble.

"Tsk. Learn to banter, dog."

"I am a WOLF!"

"No, no. You need witty comebacks. Not baseless assertions." Taunted LeviathWoman. "...Although, ultimately your words DO need actions to back them. You can start by surrendering like a dog." There was a vroosh as the water below started flowing extremely fast. "I'd say you have... about five minutes before the room fills? And don't even think about jacking in-"

"Found the port." Said Arthur. "Nice try distracting me, but major facilities always have ports. Treble?"

There was a sound of cracking knuckles.

"Hunt."

The second WaterWorksComputer was considerably less flooded. The problem was that the water was moving. "I don't think I can resist this flow!"

"Some platforms are still sunken." Said Ember. "I see a few gaps where they should be, and those platforms probably have the water controls. Repair program anywhere?"

Arthur felt the water touch his shoes. "Let's be quick about this. Treble, get ahead to the first platform now. Don't be afraid to ride those currents to get there."

"Gotcha!" Treble put one foot into the current and was sucked away.

"Transform first!" Yelled Arthur, slotting in the chips. Treble thankfully didn't waste any time.

Ember grabbed the repair Mr. Prog. "...How do I get it to the platform?!"

Blaze looked down. "Arthur... I can't swim."

Arthur frowned at the double questions. "...Treble, if you can find something to grip under the water, stand somewhere that will divert the current so Ember can proceed with the program. Blaze, see that handrail? Stand on it when the water gets high. It's easier to balance underwater, and your head will reach the ceiling."

"ON IT!" Treble forced himself over a current, the sheer force of the water dragging him along a bit. "HURRY!"

Ember dashed over, program in tow. "Okay, get that platform up!"

Treble dipped under, and the platform rose.

"Now!" Screamed Ember. She slid down her mask, and prepared to engage the viruses.

"Perhaps we can help!" Realised Arthur. "BugAura, in."

The Mr. Prog was just about enveloped in the giant grey bubble. Blaze sighed in relief. "Okay Ember, just focus on staying healthy! I'll be fine! ProtoCross, MoonBlade, YoYo!"

Ember quickly darted forwards, striking at the converging viruses. She saw a blue shadow race past in the water. "LeviathWoman." She spat.

Treble saw her too, as she swum past his eyes with a mocking expression. "So noble of you, loyal dog! To protect your master to the end!"

"Don't respond!" Warned Arthur. "She's a trickster. She wants to make you need a breath by talking."

Treble just glared. LeviathWoman sighed, clearly unaffected by the waters. "Ah, such a killjoy is your NetOp. Yet pragmatic! Effective! A shame he's going to be out of breathing room in... fooour minutes!"

"Got the platform!" Beeped the Mr. Prog. "Two more!"

"Oh, you~" Said LeviathWoman. "Alas..." She pulled out her curve-bladed spear, and twirled it around, before smiling. "Whirlpool~"

The waters ahead churned. Ember paled. "If we get sucked into those..."

"I CAN DO IT. I WILL!" Treble had his head above water again. "WHERE'S THE PLATFORM AT?"

"Northeast!" Said Ember. "But the currents... I just..."

"I got it." Said Blaze. There was fear in her eyes, but that fear was melting faced with an inner fire. "FreezeCross. Let's see how these currents handle a few icebergs."

"Clever!" Agreed Arthur. "Currents are finicky things. An iceberg would mess up that whirlpool for sure."

Ember started preparing, when Arthur intervened. "Wait, make it in calm waters or it'll be sucked out before you can get it up to size. Treble, you push it out when it's ready."

Ember began making the iceberg. Time ticked by painfully, and the water was up to Arthur's chest. After a precious minute, the iceberg was ready. "Now Treble! Push!"

Treble reared up, and gave one massive shove to the floating ice. As hoped, it was sucked straight into the whirlpool, and slammed into the bottom with a giant 'Thonk' and a crash. The currents stilled, if briefly. Ember studied them for a second. "I see a path! Treble, get to the platform!"

"ON IT! AGAIN!"

Ember carefully steadied herself, and then placed the program on her back. "Buckle up." She leapt out from the platform, and as she touched the water it froze beneath her. Ember dashed forwards, struggling to stay afloat but devoid of her normal weakness to water. She saw a blue shadow again, and had a moment of horror as she realised she was incredibly exposed right now. And the fear was realised as the shadow started moving up, far more agile on water than she was. Just as she was sure she was about to get stabbed, a surge of blue fire washed out in a sheet, seperating her and the attacker vertically.

"Phew, I was worried the breath weapons wouldn't work underwater. At least AquaBreath does." Commented Arthur.

Ember landed on the platform, and all but threw the Mr. Prog at the area to repair. "Go go GO!" She yelled. The water was up to Arthur's neck. Blaze was crouching on the siderail. The Mr. Prog dutifully went to work.

The wave of viruses was tremendous, and from every side. More than once, Ember nearly let one slip through. But she was too aware. Even as the onslaught continued, she only burned brighter. And then the repair was done. Treble stuck his head up. "ONE MORE!"

"Admirable efforts, pup~" Mocked LeviathWoman.

"HA! PUPS CAN BE WOLVES OR DOGS!"

"Treble, onwards!" Said Arthur, starting to kick off the floor and tread water for air. "The next platform is easy to access!"

"Yes." Said Blaze. "LeviathWoman will have to intervene to stop us. Ember? Kick her face in!"

"Gladly!" Said Ember, as Treble went forwards, and picked up the platform.

True to prediction, LeviathWoman jumped out to stand on it. "Ready? No? Good! My naginata will make quick work of you, and justice will be done." She leveled her spear- naginata, she had called it.

Blaze glared from behind her mask, and dropped to fighting stance. "Justice? JUSTICE?!"

There was a white-blue blur as she clashed with LeviathWoman, the force of the air sending LeviathWoman's dress billowing. Arthur was distracted for the moment by how _dignified_ it looked. Not an inch of skin was showing apart from her face, and her armored legs and chest were practical and refined, rather than suggestive. LeviathWoman carefully angled her naginata, blocking a flurry of blows from Blaze, before she vaulted back and threw a wave of water at her. Blaze was too furious to care, and slashed right through, the water turning to slush.

"Battlechips in! SpinShaker3! WindRack!" Said Blaze desperately.

Ember skated around the edge, as LevithWoman posed defensively. She pitched the satellite, and then leapt in with the WindRack. LeviathWoman unexpected lowered her guard, and let herself be slapped away... into the water. There was a laugh as she leapt out with a huge blast of water, unavoidable. Ember staggered.

And then the platform sunk. Ember flailed for a moment as the floor gave way, but was far better off than LeviathWoman, who was suddenly dragged under the water.

"Ember can't get out of the water if she goes in!" Shouted Blaze.

Treble couldn't hear her. He was trying not to drown or relax his grip, and eventually had to choose not drowning. Releasing LeviathWoman, he surged up for air, only to find current dragging him down.

"Drown! D-drow..." LeviathWoman had not handled getting almost bitten in half well. She was bugged and heavily injured.

"Ember! EMBER!" Shouted Blaze. Treble got the message.

"Wind chip in. Accelerate Junk Flyer to help bolster that platform-glub!" Instructed Arthur, before catching a mouthful of water.

The platform surged up, and LeviathWoman returned to the fight. She staggered, and suddenly Arthur had a moment of realisation. The bite had done WAY too much damage... she must have been weak to it! "She's sword type! Use SteamCross!"

"SteamCross! AreaSteal, GoldFist, Go!" Said Blaze. The water was up to the ceiling. Both NetOps were standing on the rail.

Ember blinked behind LeviathWoman, who parried valiantly, but was struck with enough force to send her weapon skittering away. Ember drew back her hand, and suddenly it turned a pure, lustrous gold. "Fist! Of! Death!" Said Ember, and she hurled the attack into LeviathWoman's face.

"Kyahhgh!" LeviathWoman went skidding across the floor. "You can delete me... but my cause will live on!"

Ember started walking forwards. There was a sudden 'pew' as someone logged in. SageMan. "You can't fall here, sister." He looked up. "...Safe retreat in exchage for your NetOps lives."

"Done. Drain the water first." Said Ember. LeviathWoman weakly waved a hand.

Arthur realised the water level of the room was dropping fast. "Oh, thank goodness..."

The water in the computer fell too. Treble hacked up a small swimming pool before yelling at LeviathWoman. "THAT'S RIGHT! SUCK MY KNOT, YOU TRUMPED UP PLASTIC BAG!"

"I am _so_ hurt." Said LeviathWoman, feigning offence with a hand over her chest. "Whatever insult that was meant to be was probably better in your head. Later- ur-ahghh..." They logged out, the splutter of bugged pain taking away her planned sassiness.

Treble shrunk back to normal, and looked at the last panel for a bit. "Doors are open."

"Phew... good job." Said Arthur. "Blaze, you did exceptionally too."

"Aw, it was a team effort!" Said Blaze.

* * *

"We're ALIVEEEE!" Announced Arthur, as he came out of the water works in his wet pyjamas.

Chaud just scowled. "I told you not to risk your life!"

"There's the Chaud I know and love." Said Blaze. "Waterworks are safe, but we couldn't capture LeviathWoman."

Chaud nodded. "Acceptable. No lives were lost and we've repelled a major attack. That's a win."

Arthur's PET beeped. "Oh, mail." He checked it, and saw a new message from Flare.

'Thanks for the warning, it saved a life. We're coming to Scilabs immediately. We need to be in on this.'

Arthur's jaw nearly dropped off. "Back to Scilabs! Ethan's lot need us!"

 **Author's notes: GET A LOAD OF THE NEW COVER ART, LOOK HOW GOOD IT IS!**

 **All four of the Eurasia navis here are dual-types! Wind-Elec, Fire-Break, Cursor-Wood, Sword-Aqua, in case you were wondering. Although some of the dual types may not be so obvious, such as PhantomMan's wood. And LeviathWoman is REALLY good at getting under Treble's skin.**


	38. Chapter 38: United

The levbus staff were a bit apprehensive about letting someone who was soaking wet, wearing pyjamas and clearly panicked on board, but Blaze flashed an official ID and explained they'd been at the water works.

"Oh, I saw that. Glad you guys got down so quickly." Said the conductor. "...Urgent enough to run through a city in pyjamas."

"I don't regret it."

The conductor shrugged. "None of my business. But every time you hear a story of that one guy who ran through the town in pyjamas to fight crime..."

"Then I'm going to laugh and agree." Said Arthur.

"We need to get going." Added Blaze. "Someone's waiting for us."

"Next stop, Scilabs!"

* * *

Arthur got through the doors to see the receptionist waiting. "Message for Mr. Penn."

"Please call me Arthur. I'm not even eighteen!"

"It's from William." The receptionist passed him a sheet of paper.

'I called in favours with the cadets, and my sergeant has gone to pick up Ethan from Eastfall. We're waiting for him by the station.'

"Oh, of course." Said Arthur.

"I wonder where Lan is?" Said Blaze. "He wasn't awake for the main part of the water works attack, and he didn't have any reason to stay after the water drained."

"No clue. I guess we should go and wait for Ethan. Strength in numbers."

"Actually, I think it might be better to stay here. I don't want to leave Scilabs unguarded." Said Blaze.

"Okay. Hey, Treble? Want to go find Colonel? He'd be pretty happy to know Gregar is visiting."

"Sure! Where can we find him, though?"

"I think I know. Come on!" Said Blaze. She lead him through a few doors, to a lab. "We can reach most of the testing areas from here."

"Indeed. Looking for someone?" Said Wily.

"Wah?! Where did you come from?" Said Arthur. "I swear you were not in that chair two seconds ago!"

"That's just Wily. Very good at... skull-king around." Commented Blaze.

"...Your puns could be weaponised." Said Wily dryly.

"Anyway, I was just going to find Colonel. Ethan is coming down soon, so that means Gregar will be around too."

"Oh, he's right here. I'm actually working on him." Said Wily.

"Ah. Would you prefer we left you be?"

"No, actually. I've heard about this 'Ethan'. A talented engineer, right?" Said Wily.

"So I've heard. I know he can modify a computer to hold Gregar, Flare and Treble, so that says something."

"Yes. Among other feats. Like those connectors for NetGaia, and those custom PETs." Agreed Wily. "A budding engineer if I ever saw one."

"More than budding. Most computers would catch fire trying to hold just Gregar and Flare."

"True. Oh, speaking of which..." Wily frowned. "Is Gregar the type to hold grudges?"

"Well, he seemed okay enough with the fact he was deleted last time I spoke to him. But I have no idea how he feels towards you." Said Blaze.

"Hm. Well, I never expected ANY forgiveness, let alone amnesty." Said Wily. "I suppose I owe it to Lan to make amends..." He typed a few lines, then closed a window. "Colonel, status report?"

Colonel became visible on the screen. "I feel... hm. Weird. Kind of like I can see further..."

Wily nodded. "I've been careful not to put all your intended powers in at once, it would be overwhelming. For the time being, get accustomed to the increased peripheral vision."

"Hey, Wily... I heard you're operating one of the superprograms." Said Treble.

Wily nodded. "I have R."

Arthur caught on fast enough. "Would you be willing to battle? We have a while before Ethan gets here."

Wily took a light beige PET out of his lab coat. Arthur was strongly reminded of the plastic colour some old phones had. "R, jack in. Execute."

R appeared, in his chunky armor. "Scripts Running."

"R has very little personality of his own." Said Wily. "After all, both the original LifeVirus and the one that became R were designed as mindless slaves."

"...I suppose it would be better to use something without a personality for a war machine." Said Arthur.

"Ironically, a lesson I didn't properly learn until I was standing next to a pair of giant exploding robots. If you'd send in your Navi? Colonel, observe closely. This will be a learning experience."

"Treble, hunt."

Treble appeared in front of R.

R's eyes flashed once. "Entity Detected- Multi Bug Organism."

Treble looked at R curiously. "...I'm sure I smell something familiar on you."

"Ready?" Said Wily. The old scientist almost smiled, as he seemed to think about something. "Netbattle routine, set."

"Executing Script!" Responded R.

"Treble, destroy!"

Treble always went for a quick opening strike unless the enemy had a huge defence. While R had such a defence, Treble didn't know that, and was surprised when his attack bounced off a gold-tinted glow.

"Life Aura Defensive Matrix Established."

"Oh, that's what I could smell."

"Northwind, Thunder, AreaSteal!"

Treble howled as a frigid wind removed the LifeAura, and then lunged to engage in proper combat. R took a steady stance, and raised a huge buster made of his entire arm. It blasted out a huge purple-pink laser, but Treble's great speed allowed him to dodge with no worse than a singe. R started firing smaller pellets, the laser apparently a charge shot. A few pellets found their marks, but then Treble got in close. R took out a sword of that same purple-pink, and made a mechanical slash, hitting in an unexpectedly wide arc. Treble took the hit to the chest.

"Ha ha ha! Behold! The first LifeSword." Said Wily dramatically.

"Not as damaging as the advance." Said Blaze.

Treble tossed out the Thunder as R advanced, and then suddenly vanished from the floor, reappearing to R's side. R attempted a parry, but it seemed the sword was more of an offensive tool, and Treble made a solid strike across R's left shoulder guard. R took another step back, and started firing away with his buster. Treble danced back, and let loose a few shots of his own in retaliation. Then the aura regenerated.

"Defensive Matrix Re-Established."

"How?! We used NorthWind..."

"That's the upside to being a genius. The technical know-how to make an infinitely restoring LifeAura! Haha!" Wily laughed. Arthur decided he was someone who probably laughed like that on purpose.

"Okay then. I think I have an answer to this." Said Arthur. "BugRiseSword, in!"

Treble looked at the blade that appeared on his arm. It resembled a normal sword in a dark gray, but he could feel almost unfathomable power coming from the weapon. He leapt into the air, and sliced with the sword. Instantly, he felt a tug inside him somewhere, but the result of the weapon was more than impressive enough. A huge arc swished forwards, and shattered the aura. But more importantly, the sword was still on Treble's arm. The glow was dull, but quickly returning.

"Time for a new strategy. FastGuage, Reflector1."

Treble attempted to make another huge slash with the BugRiseSword, but to Arthur's amazement, the giga chip couldn't get through a simple reflector. Worse, Treble took the reflected force right in the face, staggering back in surprise. And then Wily put in some more chips.

"Cannons, A B C. Antiquated advance, Zeta Cannon."

R raised his other arm, the hand replaced with a regular green cannon. Arthur was confused as to why anyone would use those once they had other options, until it started blasting out shot after shot, each one far more powerful than it should have been. Treble ducked the first, but the second landed a hit and paved the way for a third. Before R could capitalise any further, Treble jumped forwards and struck again, with his claws. Arthur knew why. Suddenly, R's movement was a little slower. Just what he needed.

"ElementBreath, VariableSword in! Left B Right B!"

Treble twisted, and as R attempted to strike again with his LifeSword, Treble hit it with the BugRiseSword, breaking it clean in half. Treble took one breath and blew fire over R, who barely reacted, only bringing up his buster to fire another big laser that hit Treble in the chest. But without missing a beat, Treble went in and sliced once more with the devastating BugRiseSword, before throwing in the VariableSword for good measure.

R was starting to weaken, but the BugRiseSword had been sapping at Treble's health.

"We must end this fight. ColonelForce, giga chip go!"

AutoSoldiers appeared. Treble was suddenly surrounded by at least two rings of them, and attempted to dodge, but it was futile. There were simply too many, each one firing a single volley of shots. The attack lasted only two seconds, but Treble was left on dangerously low health. That was enough. R was in the same spot, and at a much larger disadvantage.

Blaze chimed it. "Finish it with Gregar or Flare! For karma!"

Arthur suddenly realised he could do both, and grinned. "How about this? GregarEX, UnifyCode, FlareEX!"

Suddenly, Treble stood upright. "Wait... I think these chips area reacting to each other! This is..."

"A program advance?" Said Wily. "Curious... It seems the cybeast powers must have reacted to each other."

Treble pointed forwards. "DoubleBeast!"

A copy of each beast appeared next to Treble. In perfectly-timed unison, they attacked. Flare hit first with a Wing Boomerang, then Gregar tackled, wrapped in electricity. As he was landing, Flare was there again to blast with a storm of air, and Gregar followed through with a tail arrow. They stepped forwards together and slashed with claws and talons, Flare's wrapped in aura, Gregar's loaded with force.

'R, logged out.'

Wily placed a hand on his chin. "Interesting indeed... Make sure you don't forget that combination."

"I won't. It's in the PA memo." Said Arthur, taking a previously blank chip out of the PET. "Who would have known?"

"You should have obtained R's navi chip." Said Wily. "Do not underestimate it because of the low damage."

Arthur looked at the chip. Only 50 attack... "Why? It says here 'Laser shot and free aura'. Does it give me a lifeaura?"

"Yes, actually." Said Wily. "It's not a full 200 point aura, though. This is just a 100 point aura. It won't deflect too many things."

"That's actually a great support chip." Said Blaze.

"Yeah. Although I do have the problem of wanting all my chips in B code..."

"Ethan is likely to be here soon. You ought to go." Said Wily.

* * *

Arthur was waiting at the top of the steps when he saw Ethan. Joe and William were behind him.

"Ethaaan! Hey there!" Shouted Blaze.

Ethan looked up, and waved, before jogging up the steps. "You owe me so many explanations." He said. "I knew it would be bad, but..."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, let's start with the fact that scilabs hired a literal ninja." Said Ethan. "First of all, how? And second, why? Was I really in that much danger?"

"Oh, Miyabi's been a good ally for a year or two. We didn't think you'd appreciate being followed." Said Blaze. "Come on in!" She strolled into Scilabs casually.

"Come on. I'll explain once we're somewhere secure." Said Arthur.

The receptionist was already talking with Blaze. Blaze looked to the others. "Chaud's still down at the water works. We'll have to talk to Lan instead."

"I'll take Lan over Chaud any day." Said Ethan. As they started walking, he seemed to realise something. "Wait, what happened to the water works? It must have been pretty bad if someone as high-ranking as Chaud is there..."

"Let me just say that nearly drowning is not a fun way to start the day." Said Arthur.

"Ah. That bad." Said Ethan. "Guess I'm not the only victim here..."

"What happened to you, Ethan?" Said Blaze.

"Ambush. Thankfully, SOMEONE tipped Flare off, so she was able to stop us walking right into it." Said Ethan. "My main three navis can handle themselves no problem, but SheepMan? He might not have been so lucky. He barely made it through that scrape, and we had the advantage."

"Someone?" Said Blaze, looking at Arthur.

"Yeah. Someone." Said Ethan. "The sender of the email was completely anonymous, even Flare couldn't trace it."

"Right..." Arthur internally squirmed, but at the same time was relieved his risk had paid off. "So, Lan's Chaud's second in command? How did that happen?"

"I know right, he can barely get up in the morning!" Said Blaze. "...Although the fact that he saved the world six times might have something to do with it."

"Oh, that. Right." Said Arthur.

"Is this lab his?" Said Ethan, noting a nameplate that read 'Hikari'. "I know his dad's lab is downstairs..."

Blaze opened the door. "Yep. Lan, we're here!"

Lan was sitting in front of a huge computer, looking at an incredibly complex code. "Hi guys!"

"I'm here to help. I'm not sure who just attacked us, but point me in the right direction and I'll return the favour." Said Ethan.

"Not that simple, sadly." Said Arthur. "Who wants to explain our enemy?"

"I'll do it." Said Lan. "About two months ago, a program was kidnapped from here. They were called Trill. At the same time, Arthur had just brought in a newly-resurrected Treble, to have him fixed up. Arthur went after them, since I... well, I had to make sure it couldn't happen again, and I've been doing some important research on... Well, I'll tell you that when I finish it. Long story short, he was kidnapped by a navi called SheepMan, part of Eurasia, on the orders of a navi called Serges. Arthur was able to infiltrate posing as a new recruit and bring them down... but the real culprit managed to slip through the law. He pinned the blame on the head of the institute, and now he's after Treble, and a few other powerful programs like Gregar and Flare... but we don't know why."

"Vengeance?" Said Ethan.

"No. He's been trying to take us alive. Flare, Gregar? Remember those assassins?"

"Assassins?" Said Gregar, while Flare nodded.

"Oh, that time Scilabs was attacked." Supplied Arthur. "Those assassins were almost certainly from Eurasia."

"So what's the plan? Storm them? We have THREE cybeasts." Said Ethan.

"No. Storming them doesn't prove them legally guilty, and if you were to get ambushed and defeated..." Said Blaze. "First, we HAVE to prove it's Eurasia, or their government just can't do anything to stop them. They're on the other side of the world, after all."

"That's another problem. Eurasia is what keeps Wirope's economy working. If Wirope were to lost it, then the country would be in HUGE trouble... and I don't really want the consequences of that on any of our heads." Said Arthur.

"So... what do we do?! Just sit here and take it while waiting for them to make a mistake?" Said Ethan, exasperated.

"Yes, but with more self-defence. I hate it too, but it's the only winning strategy." Said Arthur. "We need to capture one of their agents, and then hopefully we can get some good info out of them. Once we prove they're guilty, then their government can hopefully take out the ringleader without collapsing the organisation."

"...I see. Define self-defence."

Lan brought up a map. "We're waiting for them to attack, and then counterattacking as hard as possible. They seem to like sabotage, and using lots of mindless drones with one smart leader. Which makes sense. Only one navi has any information, then."

"We identified only four places they would be likely to attack. One was attacked today, so maybe we should make that three..." Said Arthur. "Remaining are Scilabs, the power plant, and... um..."

"The courts." Supplied Blaze. "One last thing."

"Huh?" Said Ethan.

"Don't let Gregar or Flare go ANYWHERE alone." Said Blaze. "Euraisa are expert ambushers and kidnappers. No matter how powerful Gregar is, if he gets stunned and then attacked with three or four powerful advances before the fight starts, he's probably not going to win."

"...Fair enough." Said Gregar.

Arthur realised there was something he needed to do. "Ethan, mind if we speak in private? At least... well, I need to speak to you without Gregar or Flare."

Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Gregar? You okay with that?"

"I don't see what could go wrong." Said Gregar. "Just tell me later."

Ethan put his PETs on a desk, and followed Arthur to a corner. Arthur looked to make sure Gregar was out of earshot. "Okay, listen... You know Alpha?"

"That system that basically caused all this?" Said Ethan. "Yeah."

"...Well, Treble and the cybeasts weren't the only programs that were mysteriously revived." Said Arthur. "There are at least two more, maybe three if Lan is correct."

"And Alpha's one of them." Said Ethan. "...I'll delete them. No problem."

"No! They're on our side now... And we can't solve every problem by throwing a Cybeast at it." Said Arthur. "Alpha was convinced to give up one of its memories to save Gregar."

"..." Ethan frowned. "It had a change of heart?"

"Maybe. It's.. kind of annoying, but I don't think it's malicious."

"So... you want me to tell Gregar, so when he finds out we don't have to deal with them killing each other?"

"If possible. But if you don't think he'll take it well, then I can hopefully keep them separate until this is all over."

"Nobody has that much luck. I'll tell him tonight."

"Okay, good."

"Who are the other revived programs? Scratch that, just list them all. Operators too so I know who to protect."

"R, who's operated by Wily. I operate Treble. Beta- although you know them as Alpha, who's operated by one of my friends called Denny. And you have Gregar and Falzar."

"Oh, don't forget Nebula Gray." Added Blaze.

"Blaze! This was a private conversation!" Whispered Arthur. "...And Nebula Gray, who's a what-if. We don't know if he resurrected, only that he COULD have. Personally hoping he didn't because his description isn't so good."

"You're normally all for redemption, considering you took pity on a kidnapper, and then got me cleared." Said Ethan. "How bad did he have to be to get on YOUR unforgivable side?"

"Literally, the digitised version of mankind's evil." Said Blaze. " _Designed_ to have absolutely nothing good in it."

"Ah. Wow, what kind of madman would do that?"

Arthur shrugged. "Anyway. Don't spread that knowledge. Conversation over." They walked back over to everyone.

"So." Said Lan. "Now we have enough really strong netbattlers to cover everywhere. I'd... like to stay in scilabs. I love going out, but I'm finally starting to understand my grandpa's research!"

"That's fine by me." Said Ethan. "Mind if I spend a day here? I want to speak with some people."

"Okay. Chaud wanted me to make sure everywhere had someone on standby, and that everyone who has a superprogram has a bodyguard." Said Lan. "Whoever stays at Scilabs will have MegaMan, and Blaze and Burn should be able to keep your navis safe. Oh, and William! Nearly forgot him, whoops..."

"Good." Said Arthur. "And I guess Wily might be getting a bit... too old for running and jumping, so Me, Ethan and Denny can rotate. That just makes it a matter of who guards who."

"Actually..." Said Blaze. "What if Burn stayed central, so he could go and help anyone quickly? I'm pretty sure you can get by on one bodyguard each."

"I'm used to going solo. Bodyguards are easy mode." Said Ethan.

"Well, then I call dibs on William. I haven't fought with him for too long."

"And that leaves me for you!" Said Blaze to Ethan.

"Wait, what about Denny? Who's going to guard him?"

"I will." Said someone. Arthur looked around in confusion. "Master Ethan, I have the PET as requested."

Lan smiled. "You can come on out, Miyabi."

Miyabi dropped from the ceiling.

"What th-" started Arthur. "He was REALLY not there when I came in!"

Miyabi handed Ethan a white PET. "Apologies for any delays." He said. "My service to you has now concluded. If we meet in the future, know that I may not have the same employers." He turned and walked out of the room, making exactly no noise whatsoever.

"Coolest thing ever." Said Ethan. "SheepMan, are you alright? Sorry I couldn't custom-build you a PET, but there wasn't time."

"Not used to being in a PET." He responded. "But at least I had the funds to buy myself a nice one. Lady Fl- Um, Flare, are you out there? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, SheepMan. Thanks for looking out for me." Responded Flare. "It looks like we're going to have some work to do."

"For now, if you all want to just explore scilabs, then Eurasia activity has lulled a bit, and making friendships is important." Said Lan. "You can head out first thing tomorrow."

"Sure. Hey, Gregar. Want to go see Colonel again?" Said Arthur. "I'm sure he'd he happy to see you."

"He was terrified of me." Said Gregar bluntly.

"He warmed up." Countered Arthur.

"...Colonel?" Said Ethan. "...Green cape? Orange sword, with a red handle?"

"Gregar's disguise?" Said Arthur. "Yes."

Ethan took a breath. "I'd better see him immediately."

* * *

"Wily! Open up!" Said Blaze. The lab door swung in.

"Ah. Is this Ethan?" Said Wily. "I've... been interested in you. I hear you're a mechanic."

"Yes. Listen, I heard you were working on Colonel. I... want to see him." Said Ethan.

"Of course. He sometimes talks about Gregar." Said Wily. "But we have to discuss your engineering. I'm sure I could teach you a thing or two, if you can learn."

"We'll see." Ethan took out Gregar's PET, and pointed it into the room's computer. "...But do you... um, have you possibly heard of a man called Baryl?"

Wily raised his eyebrows. "Yes. Why do you ask? Do you know him?"

"Well... he never talked about his past too much, but he talked about a navi called Colonel like they were very important to him. He actually gave me something when he talked to Gregar." Ethan reached into his pocket and took out the CrossDivide chip.

Wily sat down. "Ah... he's alive. Thank goodness."

"Did something happen between you?"

"A lot of things. Very few of them good." Said Wily.

Gregar looked over to Wily. "...I remember now. I couldn't quite make sense of the memory, but you were the one who- Ethan. Are you SURE we can trust him?"

Wily froze. "That voice!"

"Huh?" Said Gregar. "What about my voice?"

"..." Wily looked sheepish. "...It's karma, I suppose. I never believed in it, but perhaps I should start."

"Well, I suppose that if Colonel was the navi you merged with to survive, you'd have his voice." Said Ethan. "You definitely didn't have one before that merge."

Wily took a shaky breath. "Gregar. I will pay anything you want in exchange for your voice files."

"Where's this coming from?"

Wily looked downcast. "Gregar, Blaze, you are likely to be the only ones to understand the importance of this, but the owner of that voice... they are- were Baryl's father. He gave Colonel his own voice before he left that day."

"You mean... Gregar sounds like your-"

"I'm using the voice of his oldest friend... and Baryl's father." Said Gregar. "I guess you couldn't replicate it perfectly."

"No. I never realised how important it was until it was gone." Said Wily. "That one memento. My friend lived on through Colonel, but I couldn't appreciate that until I'd doomed him. I doubt Colonel is still alive within you, considering the nature of his last attack, but... at least some small part survived."

"It's just a voice to me." Said Gregar. "Don't stab Ethan in the back and you can have it. Deal?"

"You have my word." Said Wily. "...Colonel- No, the Colonel System is in there. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you." He sat silently. Arthur could nearly see him lost in thoughts.

"Who is Baryl?" Said Arthur, eventually.

"..." Blaze frowned. "He... well, it's complicated."

"He regrets what he did." Said Ethan. "But he doesn't want to go back. He lost his entire career, and everyone he knew after..."

"Me." Said Wily. "It was the worst thing I ever did to anyone. I've contracted assassinations, I've sent entire countries into anarchy for fun, but nothing could ever compare to how much I hurt Baryl. I'd rather not... speak of it again."

"Jeez..." Said Arthur. "You can freely talk about contract killings, but it was so much you can't mention it... You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Can it be fixed? I don't really... I won't pretend to understand who he his."

"Not within my lifespan. I'd like to end this conversation. I have far too many regrets to fall victim to." Said Wily bluntly, before turning to the computer and activating a microphone. "Colonel. Iris. You have some visitors."

"Treble, want to go see them?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Treble saw Colonel and Flare first. Colonel was a fair bit shorter than Flare, not yet out of beta testing.

"He's adorable!" Said Flare, beckoning Treble over. "Look!"

"I-I'm a fearless warrior! I'm not adorable!" Protested Colonel. Flare hugged him.

"Yes you are." Said Flare. "Treble, let's adopt him. He can be ours."

"I don't know if you're allowed to do that..." Said Arthur quietly.

"But what about Iris?" Said Colonel. "I'm not going anywhere without her!"

"...Where IS Iris?" Said Arthur.

"Over here." Said Gregar. "...You don't have to hide from us."

He reached behind a RockCube that had been lying around, and gently lifted Iris up and over it. Never mind that she was almost fully grown. He set her down in front of him. "H-hello..."

"Oh, you must be Colonel's sister!" Said Treble. "You look a lot like Flare's disguise."

"But she's missing the dress." Said Blaze.

"The dress was a cosmetic she bought herself." Said Wily. "I couldn't find another one, so I settled for just replicating the original jumpsuit."

Flare let go of Colonel. "...As someone who knows you better than you may expect, don't be scared." She shimmered, before being replaced by her disguise, complete with the dress. The dress that had survived Colonel's explosion, attacks from Bass, and Falzar's rampage. Loving maintenance from first the original Iris, then Flare, then SheepMan had kept it intact through all that. Flare unequipped it, showing an identical jumpsuit, down to the armour.

"You're... me." Said Iris.

"I think I have something that belongs to you." Offered Flare, holding out the data.

Iris carefully accepted the dress. "This..."

"Put it on." Encouraged Gregar softly.

Iris equipped the dress, and it appeared over her. "...Do I... look nice?"

"You look wonderful!" Said Ember. "Iris always had a great sense of fashion!"

Iris nodded, and started slowly moving behind Gregar. He noticed this. "You don't have to hide from these people. They're friends."

Iris still shied behind him. Colonel got up and came over. "Come on, sister! We can do anything together! Even show off your new dress! It's not like I'm not wearing one!" He gestured to his armour. Arthur was ninety-percent sure Colonel's armour wasn't a dress, but didn't want to bring it up. Colonel gently took his sister's hand, and took her about halfway out from behind Gregar.

Flare knelt. "I know you'll be great, Iris. I was where you are now too."

"T-t-thanks..." Said Iris, slowly moving to cling to Colonel.

"So when do I turn into a wolf?" Said Colonel.

"Oh. Um, that's not likely to be one of your intended abilities." Said Gregar. "I could give it to you, but you're still in beta so it might make it impossible to finish you."

"But... well, okay?" Said Colonel. "Huh... I thought I was just incomplete for ages."

"No, I'm sure you're coming along well." Said Flare.

"Yeah! I've seen how your training is going firsthand!" Said Treble. "You're going to be a well-balanced fighter!"

Gregar looked at Colonel and Iris. Something inside him panged with emotion, regrets mixed with happiness. He'd always wondered if that extra, fragmented consciousness had been the original Colonel or just a bug. Now he knew. And in turn he knew Colonel's thoughts.

'...I can stand by my sister again, and even comfort and guide the ones who were made to succeed her and myself. The peace is not secure yet, but those I fought for have made good use of my sacrifice. I am truly lucky...'

Gregar felt an odd urge to say something he normally wouldn't. "...Colonel. Do you want to train?"

"Like, netbattling?"

"Sort of. This will be more practice than fighting." Gregar shimmered as his disguise activated. "We won't be attacking each other. I doubt you're ready to take me on."

"But I would anyway if you let me!" Said Colonel. He very carefully pried Iris off, and walked to stand in front of Gregar.

"Stand behind us, everyone. These swords are ranged weapons." Instructed Gregar. "Okay, Colonel. Let's start by seeing your technique with that weapon."

* * *

"That was pretty sweet." Said Treble, as they eventually left the training area. "I didn't know you had a soft spot for kids."

"You don't?" Said Flare. "You got so flustered when Bass teased you about them..."

"I... never gave it much thought. I just don't really know what to do with them. I can't fight them, and if I touched them they might get a bug..."

"That Colonel has a lot of promise." Said Gregar. "I'm looking forward to seeing him finished."

"Yeah. But for now, I guess we'd better get out and into position to guard everywhere." Said Ember. "Who wants to go where?"

"Well, Ethan wanted to stay here right?" Said Arthur.

"Oh yeah. Me and Gregar have been itching for a rematch with Lan." Said Ethan. "Plus Wily mentioned he was interested in my engineering..."

"Oh my god, don't turn into an evil genius, one was enough." Said Blaze. "...Although I wouldn't say no to a copybot."

"Evil genius?" Said Ethan. "...I guess he's got the hair down." He took a hand and brushed his hair up, and gave a theatrical laugh. "Bow before the greatest mechanic of all, Master Ethan! ...What would you say Alias? Decent ring to it?"

Alias snorted. "Might want to work on your acting. And planning. And secret base."

"I could totally build a secret base! I made that treehouse once, remember?"

Arthur saw someone approaching. "Oh, Denny. Did Lan say we were looking for you?"

"No, but I thought I should stay up-to-date." Said Denny. "Ethan?" He offered his hand out.

Ethan returned the handshake. "The one and only. We have a plan, if you'd join?"

"Let me hear it first."

Arthur decided to explain. "It's pretty simple. Just a daily rotation of me, you and Ethan about our three remaining places to guard."

"...Simple enough, but we'd be very vulnerable. I don't want anyone getting picked off." Said Denny.

"We accounted for that. We have the manpower to give everyone a bodyguard, so we can respond without getting ganged up on. I'll be with William, and you'll have Miyabi. Blaze will handle Ethan."

"...For today, alright. But if Chaud proposes a different plan, then I want you to drop this one immediately. Clear?"

"Clear. Do you want to handle the courts or the power plant?"

"I'm an expert in electricity, although it's geothermal energy..." Said Denny.

Blaze clicked her fingers. "Aha! I was wondering where FightingMan fit into the whole custom-tailored theory!"

"I'll take the courts for today, then." Said Arthur. "Oh, mind if we speak in private for a second."

"You're doing that a lot today." Said Flare. "...Is... is there anything I need to know too?"

"Ethan will tell you when the time is right." Said Arthur, as he pulled Denny to one side. "Okay, So Ethan is aware of Beta, and he plans to tell Gregar tonight. I made it clear Beta is on our side, so in the event you need to work with Ethan, don't hesitate. That's all."

"Good to know. I'll get Miyabi now- standing around isn't protecting anything." Said Denny. He turned as he left. "See you later, Ethan." He intoned in a professional voice.

"We should go get William, too. He's right." Added Treble.

* * *

The rest of the day was mercifully uneventful after the hectic morning. Green town was a tranquil place. Arthur was just occasionally sending a few mails to Ethan and Denny to keep updated. Ethan lost a rematch with MegaMan by a few points of health, although he didn't seem too upset. Denny noted that there were exactly three weak spots in the power plant's security.

Arthur spent it Netbattling in one of the parks. There was a warm breeze all day as Treble went against some ordinary challengers, even if the casual battles wern't what he really hungered for, they were still enjoyable to him. And then he won a small reward for his win streak.

"Five bugfrags!" Said Arthur happily. "With these, you'll be past 1250 health!"

"Give me! I can't wait to see what chip I get!" Said Treble, quickly stuffing his face. He coughed. "Uahh, it tickles a bit."

"I better find somewhere I can jack you in... the PET might not take kindly to transforming in there. Ah, there we go." He noticed a port on a tree.

Treble's tail wagged madly as he looked around inside it. "It's linked to the BotanicalResearchComputer!"

"...The what? What's that?"

"It's the place we fought the WuHighMax." Said Treble. "It's where I confessed to Flare!"

"Ahh... I can see why it'd be special to you, then. Here's the advance. Try not to scare anyone."

Treble transformed, and quickly hacked up the chip. "...ELEMENTTRAP." He shrunk back to normal. "Not B-coded."

Arthur registered the data. "But I haven't seen one before. ElementTrap M... I wonder what it does? I regret not having learned all this stuff so thouroughly in school."

"No clue!" Said Treble cheerily. "But it seems kind of rare, so maybe we can trade it!"

"Yeah."

 **Author's notes: So to give R something nice and unique as an ability, I decided upon the 'antiquated advance' ability. Instead of attacks like SoulSword and GigaCannon, when he uses those advances he gets SigmaSword and ZetaCannon. You can look back to BN1 to see what's available to him. Mostly it's repeat casting of a slightly improved version of the chip, while invincible, but there is also an old favorite of mine in PoweredCannon.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007:_ I cannot further embolden your name, Fanfiction only has 3 buttons. I was actually torn over Blaze being unable to swin, but I figured if she was going to have any weakness it would be that. Speaking of PJ heroes, if you watch Iron man without any cgi, it's a movie about a guy who flies around and fights crime in his PJs. I'd be unable to face myself if I didn't credit you for that cover, generosity like that DESERVES recognition. And I'll see this fic to the very end. Let there be hope!**

Deleted scene

"Blaaaze!" Yelled Ember. "Where is my Cross system!?"

"I- uh, put it away!"

"WHERE?!"

"Why do you need to know?"

"I need it!"


	39. Chapter 39: Capture

Arthur was riding the levbus back when he looked to Treble. "You know..." He trailed off.

"Something wrong?"

"Not really, I guess. Looking back, I almost died this morning. I definitely would have drowned in that room without you. I just realised, I never said thanks. So- thank you."

"Aww, you'd do the same for me!"

"I would. Glad I didn't panic, either..."

"You don't panic for yourself. I've noticed that." Said Treble. "You only panic if I'm in danger or if someone else important to you is in danger."

"Yeah... I try and keep things like fear and panic under control, though. If I panic then I make mistakes, and those can really put you in danger."

"...Mm. Well! Glad you keep them under control then!"

* * *

"Hey everyone. How's everything?" Arthur said walking into the aviators' room.

"..." Joe made a small sound, and looked like he was trying to force a smile.

"No more Eurasia activity today." Said Ethan, leaning back into a chair. "But we can't let our guard down after twelve hours."

Joe pulled himself together. "I've set up an armoury, since I can't help much without MathMan. Plus I can help present any ideas you have to Chaud."

"Do we _have_ to run everything past that guy?" Said Ethan.

"Yes." Arthur replied confidently. "If we just did whatever seemed like a good idea without telling anyone then it would be chaos. Reporting to one authority makes sure we can't clash, even if you don't like them."

"Can't argue." Said Ethan. "...Hey, Treble? Flare's in Central area."

Arthur took out his PET and sent Treble into the computer.

William sat in one of the chairs. "How are you doing, Joe? We've been running around a lot, but really we should be here to give you support."

"It's been rough. But logic dictates they won't delete him." Said Joe. "I spent a very long time researching who could make a navi for me, and I had him improved a lot. He's very powerful, although maybe not on the level of the officials. Eurasia would recognize his value, which unfortunately means they'll probably use him against us."

"What do you mean?" Said Ethan.

"We're looking to capture. Once we do, I imagine it'll be a hostage exchange. I can only hope we get what we need quickly."

"Waiiit a moment." Said Gregar. "Capture? Does it matter what rank they are?"

"Um, not really, as long as they have information proving Eurasia guilty." Said Joe.

"Huh. Wish you'd told me earlier." Gregar said. "Ethan, one a scale of one to LifeBeast, how gross would you people find it if I just sort of... vomited a navi up?"

"I'm gonna say a solid eight. Where and when did you eat a Eurasia navi? Why didn't you tell anyone?!" Said Ethan.

"Well basically I forgot. Good thing I wanted to give them a slow deletion or they'd be gone by now." Gregar made a bit of a hacking motion.

"Oh, yuck." Arthur really wanted to look away, but couldn't.

"Go get to something we can use as a jail cell!" Yelled William.

Gregar all but pulled an entire navi out of his mouth. Thier ethereal armor was bugged out, and their entire framework was falling apart. He grabbed them by the throat and lifted them, while they were barely conscious. "It's your lucky day, you spit rag."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "...Can't say he doesn't deserve it. Put him in a chokehold while I go get Chaud."

"Gladly."

* * *

Chaud looked into the computer. GhostMan was in a repair program after he'd started to fall apart. "The damage is extensive, and I can't be sure his memory is intact. But if it is, then it's the first real step to beating Eurasia. Well done, Gregar."

"Just don't let him escape."

Chaud ignored that. "Oh, and Ethan? There was a small vote earlier, between the head of the officials, the president, and the head of Scilabs. They asked me to give you some data."

"Holy... those are some important people." Breathed Ethan.

Chaud held his PET forwards. "There are three copies. Gregar, the other two copies are for your companions."

"It's... a little gold star?" Said Gregar in confusion. "What am I, a preschooler?"

Ethan's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Thanks- I... did not expect that. Gregar... those stars are only given out to navis that manage to do REALLY big things. They're basically medals of honour."

"You earned it." Said Chaud simply. "Although you have a way to go to beat MegaMan's six. For now, let's leave GhostMan here. The room will be guarded."

* * *

Gregar ran up to see Treble and Flare sitting by each other, at the edge of a platform that now overlooked the central area BBS. His first instinct was to jump between them and see if he could scare Treble into falling off the platform- he was sooo close to the edge, but he didn't really want to upset Flare. So he went and sat by them. "Flare. Here." He tossed her the small gold star.

"What's this?" Said Flare.

"It looks like Gregar's head thing." Commented Treble. "Wait, it only has five points."

"Some kind of official medal for managing a big thing. Not really my style, but I think I'll keep it." Said Gregar.

"...It's pretty, I like it." Flare held the star up to the light. "Look how it sparkles!"

"Wow, it's very shiny." Treble suddenly was distracted by a fleeting thought. "Gregar, I've been meaning to ask you- what do navis taste like? I mean, I want to know, but it's kind of bad to just go and eat someone for curiosity's sake."

"Depends on the element. Just go eat the next Eurasia navi, that'll explain it. Anyway- what are you doing up here? Kissing?"

"Well we tried, but she has a beak and I have a muzzle. So we're just holding hands."

"Scandalous." Joked Flare.

"Ugh... well, I'll leave you to it." Said Gregar. He turned to leave, when Treble called.

"Don't leave this area without someone to back you up. Eurasia's looking for a chance to attack."

"Noted."

Treble watched him wander off, and start exploring the new Central area.

Flare looked at him. "...I hope this Eurasia stuff ends quickly."

"Yeah. I don't want to lose anyone else..."

* * *

Arthur sat up the next day and yawned. Not having an emergency first thing in the morning was an improvement to yesterday. He pulled on a shirt and opened his PET. "Morning Treble."

"Good morning!"

"What do you think it'll be today then? Life-and-Death judgements? Jumping over fires to save people? Taking on entire armies?" Said Arthur jokingly.

"Sounds fun!"

"Well, I guess if you get over the whole fear of dying thing." Arthur stood up. "I'm going to go and find somewhere for breakfast. Never got it yesterday..."

"Sure. Hey, do you think we could have a NetBattle with Ethan at some point? I haven't challenged any of his navis in ages!"

"No problem. Although we'll have to wait for him to wake up." Arthur took one step out of the door and the PET beeped. He frowned. "Please don't be important. Please don't be important." He opened the emails. "It's from Chaud. 'We've been contacted by one of the four navis that have been attacking, PhantomMan. Report to my room for nine.' Well, at least I get breakfast. I'm going to need it."

* * *

Arthur went into Chaud's office, alongside Ethan, Blaze, Denny, William and Joe. Chaud didn't look happy, to say the least.

"We've been contacted by PhantomMan regarding GhostMan. Here's the message." Said Chaud, bringing it up on his computer.

'I believe you are currently holding my retainer, GhostMan, hostage. Similarly, we are holding one of your navis. If you wish to discuss an exchange, send MathMan's leige lord to this spot in the Undernet, alone bar NetOp, at noon'

"That's obviously a trap." Said Denny.

"Can we have anyone survey the area to see what kind of trap? On the off chance it's genuine..." Arthur looked at Joe.

Joe shook his head. "Don't. MathMan wouldn't want you to risk yourself like this. We- we can- after this is over..." He trailed off.

"...Blaze. Ethan. What do you guys think?" Said Arthur.

Blaze looked to Ember. "We can survey the area for traps. And if you have that aura up, and the transformation ready, then I doubt Treble can be kidnapped."

"If I use NetGaia, I can give you reinforcements in two seconds." Said Ethan. "Even if it IS just a trap, then we'll have a chance to take out one of their important players."

Chaud frowned. "...I don't like it, but letting this conflict drag on is the alternative. There's no time to waste. Blaze, you have three hours to survey that area as thoroughly as possible. Ethan, prepare a link for ProtoMan and our other reinforcements to use."

"That area is huge. I'm not sure I can cover it all alone..." Said Blaze.

"Zero can help." Said Ethan. "Alias, let's go get him. Not a second to lose."

"Go." Said Chaud. Ethan and Blaze left the room.

William seemed to consider things for a moment. "We should try and get what we can out of GhostMan, in case we do have to give him up now."

"I doubt we would. But okay. Regal is watching over him for the moment." Said Chaud.

Arthur looked to Joe for a moment. "...How did he know?"

"I've been wondering that too." Agreed Chaud. "We had GhostMan in holding for less than ten hours and we're contacted."

"You don't suppose... there's a spy?" Whispered Joe.

"We can't rule out the possibility. Keep your information close to your chest. As long as it's not Ethan, Wily, Denny or you, Arthur- then we should be okay regardless. Arthur, how are your diplomacy skills?"

"Untrained. I'm not that good at talking people into revealing things."

"Well, we'll do what we can."

* * *

Three minutes to noon. Treble was at the meeting point. Ethan had a NetGaia link primed. Everyone else was ready to jump down that link.

"How are you doing, Treble? Any worries?"

"...Lots. But I don't want him to hear them." Said Treble. He waited tensely. Time ticked by. "...I hope he was serious."

Then to Arthur's moderate surprise, there was a 'pew' sound, of a navi moving in by link. But they weren't PhantomMan. Two navis stood side by side.

"SageMan? I expected PhantomMan." Said Treble. "...Who's your friend?"

Next to SageMan was a semi-disembodied navi. He had boots and gloves, and a helmet and chestplate, all in the same green as SageMan. The rest of him? Gushing, whirling air.

Blaze scowled next to Arthur. "TornadoMan. They tried sending him to mess with you guys before, but I stopped him. Watch out for MagmaMan, he might be around too."

Arthur nodded, and focused on the scene before him. "I presume you'll be negotiating in his place?"

"Indeed. PhantomMan is not a talker." Said SageMan. "So. What state is GhostMan in? And can you provide verification?"

"I would ask the same about MathMan."

"We keep him bound and blindfolded."

"Well, he was damaged when we got him." Arthur tried to be as vague as possible while answering. "We can't be sure if he's okay, since we haven't had time to analyse him properly."

"Hmm... As good as can be expected. So, onto the matter of exchange?"

"What are your terms? Preferred location?"

"Immediate release of GhostMan into the net without any attempt to access his coding, and an hour's grace period to pick him up. In exchange, we'll release your retainer in the same fashion."

"But Eurasia is on the other side of the world! We can't send someone to pick him up safely, the chance of ambush is simply too high." Countered Arthur.

"Eurasia? Who on eart-" SageMan suddenly stopped, and held a hand to his ear as if receiving a message. "Forgive me, but... There's been a change of priorities."

Treble dropped into a fighting stance. "If you think I'm afraid of you just because you've got a bodyguard, then I'm going to change your mind."

"No, no. My master simply asks I withdraw. We will have to... reschedule." SageMan started walking away.

"Do I chase?" Said Treble to Arthur. "I can take them!"

"It was a distraction!" Yelled Chaud, getting a message. "The power plant is under attack!"

"Treble, don't let them escape!"

Treble sprinted forwards. TornadoMan turned and held his palm up, and Treble was buffeted by a gale of air.

"I cannot allow harm to come to my master." Said TornadoMan. "SageMan, continue with your retreat. I will sustain this barrier."

SageMan visibly despaired. "But... you can't win this kind of battle! You can't mean to-"

"I doubt they're so foolish as to delete me." Said TornadoMan. "Simply see the Master's plan through, and the ultimate victory is assured."

SageMan nodded. "I will do my part." he turned and ran.

TornadoMan looked forward. "I have wondered how I would fare against the one who slew PumpMan. He sends a message, Treble." The gale started to peter out, Treble stepping forward. "That should you ever face him again, then there will be no words."

"...He's alive?" Said Treble. "You recovered the ghost? SheepMan will be... he..."

"I do not know who 'SheepMan' is. But enough- For my master!" Said TornadoMan, dropping the winds.

Treble went straight for the face, and managed to hit. TornadoMan took a step back and threw a gauntlet upwards, a blast of wind following. This only worsened his situation, sending Treble high into the air while very close to him.

"VariableSword, Thunder, CornShot in! Setting to FighterSword!"

Treble sent the arc of energy down, and it crashed into TornadoMan as he made a futile attempt to dodge. Treble landed behind him, raking his claws along the back of TornadoMan's armor, before zapping him with the thunder and blasting with the CornShot. TornadoMan tried to fight back, but he'd picked a battle he just wasn't ready for, and his blast of air went wide, letting Treble slash him across the face viciously. He went down, health critical and barely responsive.

"...Is... that it?" Said Treble in confusion.

TornadoMan groaned. "I surrender! I can't go on..."

"I barely touched you! What's your max health, two hundred? It can't be that low!"

"I... rely on dodging..."

"Well if you say so." Said Treble, noting he'd managed to hit with literally every attack he'd made. "Man, I was expecting a good fight..."

"Okay, enough talking. Let's capture him and get down to the power plant." Said Arthur.

"Okay, prepare to get stuffed into a PET!"

* * *

Blaze frowned, while they rode the LevBus. "How did you take him down so easily?"

"Who?"

"TornadoMan. He gave us some real grief when we faced him before." Said Blaze.

"I... honestly don't know, I expected better too." Said Treble. "Seriously, some of the guys back at school gave me a harder time."

"...And why would SageMan agree to leave him to be captured by us when the entire point of that exchange was to try and make sure we couldn't hold onto GhostMan?"

"Something is up." Said Ethan. "Don't ask me what- but something is up."

"Yeah... just be on guard." Said Arthur.

"Chin up! We'll keep fighting no matter what." Encouraged Blaze.

"Seconded. Battles can be lost, it's how the war ends that matters." Said William. "I only hope we can make it to the power plant in time."

"There are a lot of safety protocols, and we have a huge numbers advantage. If all goes according to plan, then me and Lan will be able to handle this on our own."

"But if it doesn't then you guys have got our backs, right?" Asked Lan.

"Of course! You had to ask?" Said Blaze.

* * *

Chaud led the group up to the entrance to the power plant. "I know the facility layout. Lan, take William and Blaze and sweep the east wing. I want you to look for any irregularities in the geothermal energy while you're there. Burn, Ethan, with me. We need to go and clear out the viruses in the main network before they damage anything. Denny, Arthur. You go over the west wing, and pay attention to the power output. Once we've done all that, then we'll converge on the central computer. Any questions? ...Okay, let's go."

Everyone split up. Arthur was a touch worried Ethan would hate going with Chaud, but concern for the task at hand overruled it. "Denny, you mentioned you knew the weak points in the security?"

"I passed them on to Lan and Chaud."

"Okay, then lead me."

Denny came up to a rusty door, and jerked it open. A corridor was before them. "Okay, we have to strike quickly. Once they see us coming they'll change tactics. You don't have much experience sneaking around, so just walk into that room and go help out." Denny started walking forwards, changing his posture to a completely different facade.

"Wait, should we really split up further?"

"He's already gone." Said Treble. "Let's just go help out."

Arthur went into the nearby room to see a few workers at computers. "Official, here to help." He announced.

"We've lost control of the power grid! It's just not responding!" Said one of the workers.

"And there are viruses everywhere!" Added another.

"Treble, hunt! We need to get the power grid back under control before anything gets damaged."

Treble appeared in the computer. "It's hot in here! Like WAY too hot! Something is heating up the area!"

"That's the LavaData." Said a worker. "We use it to model the lava under the earth so we know if anything is going to go wrong. Don't break any panels, or there'll be a lava plume!"

"Right... good thing we don't rely on that technique." Said Arthur. "Treble, see anything wrong?"

"Well, aside from the fact literally everything is on fire and there are viruses everywhere? Yes actually! I think I can see the power control program over there, someone's put it in the middle of a lava lake."

"Focus on clearing out the viruses." Arthur fell into a natural place of command, even if he was the youngest one in the room. "Men, how are your navis?"

"Deleted."

"Barely intact?"

"Okay."

"Alright, once we clear out the viruses then I want you to come and help repair the power control. Treble, need any chips?"

"Ahh! Yes!" Treble dodge-rolled to one side as a Flamey tried to rush him, and then had to lunge forward to delete a Spikey before it could blast him.

"AquaNeedle, in twice!"

Treble cast the attack, and a few sharp spikes rained from above. The Flamey didn't have the brains to dodge. But more viruses surrounded Treble. He jumped around trying to dodge all manner of spikes while Arthur glared at the PET, waiting for it to be ready to accept more chips. "We could REALLY use some backup right now, if only Denny hadn't split."

Treble vaulted over a MetFire and cut it into ribbons before spinning and knocking a Draggy backwards before it could hit him with a pulse of fire. "I've got this!" An EarthDragon narrowly missed him, and as he turned to attack it he was hit by an OldBurner's jet of fire.

"BugAura, UnifyCode, MathManEX in."

Treble was enveloped by the grey light, and took a moment to get his bearings as a few attacks were harmlessly deflected. He picked out a particularly nasty target in the form of a Flamey3. MathMan's copy walked up with deadly calm, and in one focused strike sent the two halves of the virus spinning away. Treble fought on.

"...There's no end to them!" Said Arthur in frustration. "Where are they coming from?!"

"I think they're coming in from the main part of this area!" Said Treble. "Hopefully Flare and Gregar can clear it out!"

"Maybe we should get assistance? We're not really doing much apart from wearing you out here."

Treble suddenly perked up. "No need!"

There was a sudden hail of huge feathers, each which crashed into the swarm of viruses. Then a tremendous blast of wind that would have made TornadoMan quake in his boots hit the swarm, sending the majority flying into the air, and deleting many more. "AIR SUPPORT IS HERE!" Called down CB-Flare. "WE REALISED THEY WERE ALL RUNNING INTO THE SIDE AREAS!" She descended a bit, shrinking into navi form before she touched down. "We didn't realise we were funneling the enemy forces into these areas. Need a hand?"

"That was awesome! So awesome!"

"Hey, can you retrieve that program? The control one for the power grid."

"Oh, I see it." Said Flare. "Yeah, probably best you don't go for a dip in this lava, Treble."

"...Is that Falzar?" Said one of the workers.

"Yes." Said Arthur. "But she's firmly on our side. And don't call her Falzar."

Flare made a short flight out, and grabbed the control program. She circled back around, and held it. "What do we do with it?"

"Ah, let us handle that." Said the workers. "It's very sensitive. If you could make sure the rest of the facility is okay?"

"Sure. Do you know if anywhere is having a particularly bad problem?" Said Arthur.

"Afraid not."

"I'll stay here and guard them." Volunteered Flare. "Love you Treb!"

"Y-You too!" Treble called as he logged out.

Denny came into the room. "Not too late am I?"

"We've handled this area. Where did you go off to?"

"I've found their commander. If we strike him then the viruses will stop swarming this area, and the rest of the operation will be easy. You have the power under control, though, right?"

"I... I think so. Flare is overseeing the repair."

"Okay, then follow me." Said Denny. He left the room and guided Arthur through a few more corridors until he came to an imposing door. 'AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY' was embossed. Denny opened it. "They're inside this computer. Let's take them out quick. Beta Online."

"Treble, hunt."

The inside of the computer was just as hot as the last. The difference was that there were cracked panels everywhere. "Hey Beta, you know not to break any panels here right?"

"Yes, as always imperfection seeks to oppose me." Said Beta, looking at a floor panel disdainfully. "But I have yet to lose to it."

They advanced cautiously. There was a suspicious lack of viruses. "...Are you sure this is the right computer?" Said Arthur.

"Yes. Be on guard."

There was suddenly a boom, and lava started flowing from the floor behind Beta. Arthur realised it was rising. "Treble! Rising lava, move!" Treble took off at a sprint, and Beta followed. A few viruses were suddenly around, and Arthur realised this was without doubt a trap. "Don't slow down for them! Just take this M-Cannon and blast through!"

"Beta, sending DashAttack"

Beta held the small green artifact with excellent posture, and rushed forwards. Treble blasted a Champy out of the way, as the lava threatened to catch up to him.

Arthur noticed it was driving them towards a central platform. Suddenly, there was another boom and rocks began to fall. Beta took an unlucky hit and stumbled, but was still ahead of the rising fires. Treble made it to the uppermost platform ahead of him.

And then a wall of flame encircled the entire thing. "Beta! Are you okay?!"

There was a blast of electricity against the firewall. "...It's a perfect defence. I doubt it can be breached without excessive force, and time I don't have." Said Beta.

"Log out." Said Denny, withdrawing his navi before the lava could engulf him. "Arthur, it's on you."

Treble looked forwards, over the whole arena. "FightingMan!" He challenged. "I know it'll be you in charge, so face me, one to one!" The light dimmed briefly.

There was a sudden sound like a war drum being hit once, and across from Treble now stood FightingMan. His red Gi flowed with data in the same style as LeviathWoman's dress, and his only armour that actually resembled armour was a padded helmet with his Navi mark on the front, and a pair of thin boxing gloves. He slammed a fist into one palm. "You don't know how hard I tried to get this chance, Treble. I will not waste it on defeat."

"You look like you might be a better fight than TornadoMan. Ready when you are." Said Treble.

"Hey, he's the enemy here. Don't treat him casually." Warned Arthur.

"I am more powerful than you can match." Said FightingMan. He put his fists up. "Ready! Fight!"

Treble dashed forwards, as did FightingMan. He dodged a jab at his jaw and leaned back matrix-style to evade a right hook, before trying to slash and having his hand grabbed. FightingMan attempted to grapple with him, but despite having little defence Treble wasn't feeble enough to be folded. He was just able to throw FightingMan back a bit and give him a shot from his tail, before making a light strike with his claws. FightingMan just about parried, and seemed to shrug off the ensuing bug.

"AirHockey, AquaNeedle, MathManEX in!"

Before Treble could attack again, FightingMan cupped his hands back. "Behold! Spirit attack!" He thrust his hands forwards, and shot a sphere of orange energy forwards. Treble jumped over, coming in from above and FightingMan called again. "Rising Fist!" FightingMan shot up from the floor and punched Treble high into the air, landing just as the AirHockey came down and ricocheted off an invisible wall, making him stumble. Treble landed on his feet, and shot the AquaNeedles. FightingMan punched one out of the air, type weaknesses and sharp points be damned, but the other two hit accurately. He went in for another round of melee combat, but this time Treble caught him with MathMan, the focused attack slipping through FightingMan's guard and sending him reeling. Treble darted in and swiped, but FightingMan countered with a palm thrust, making Treble stagger. One more punch sent him down for a moment, but he sprung to his feet like he hadn't felt a thing.

"Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade in! Program advance, LifeSword!"

FightingMan took a solid step forwards. "Blazing knuckles!" He started a volley of rapid punches, and Treble couldn't block many, taking a pummelling. But his health was ahead, and he made a quick step back, running around FightingMan, just out of range and too quick to target. He saw his opportunity, and just as FightingMan started to prepare another spirit attack, Treble struck out with the LifeSword. It hit, and FightingMan went down to one knee. He looked up.

"...No..."

"It's over. You put up a decent battle!"

"Don't hesitate, we need to capt-"

Arthur was interrupted by a sudden crackle. It sounded like breaking wood, but there was something sinister about it. Something unnerving. FightingMan started to burn, small amounts of black fire coming from his whole body.

"...You don't smell too good there." Said Treble.

FightingMan got back up, and cracked his knuckles. "I will never lose! Dark Soul Drive!"

"...So do you name all your moves lik- whoa!" Treble ducked under a brutal, lightning-fast roundhouse kick, and before he could retaliate an uppercut launched him back.

"Guard, AreaSteal in!"

"Guard Breaker!" FightingMan punched straight forwards, and as his fist collided with the metal shield it went straight through, again slamming Treble. FightingMan resumed his assault, but Treble wasn't disheartened. If anything, the increased challenge was riling him up. He grinned as his claws clashed against the darkened fists, trading blows with FightingMan before darting back and shooting with his buster. He narrowly dodged another Rising Fist, and then used the AreaSteal to get into the air, behind FightingMan. With one powerful slash, FightingMan was sent into the floor, getting back up as fast as possible. He was badly damaged, but holding on relentlessly, and went in for yet another round of close-quarters combat.

"Thunder, CornShot, FireBurn in!"

Arthur had adapted. FightingMan ran straight into the ball of electricity, but to Treble's amazement powered through it, and caught him with a devastating roundhouse kick. Treble landed on his back, CornShot raised, and blasted FightingMan who was _still coming forward,_ even with his damages. He let loose the FireBurn, and FightingMan still didn't stop.

"Oh, that's it!" Said Treble. He dived forwards. FightingMan made a wordless, but incredibly powerful punch forwards that brought Treble down to low health, but then Treble's clawed hand caught him by the throat. Treble stared him in the eyes, red to red (even if Treble's were pure red compared to FightingMan's normal irises). There was a blast of purple energy from Treble's hand, and FightingMan's black fire suddenly died. "I knew it. I don't know what kind of power you were using then, but it wasn't yours. I've purged it." Growled Treble.

FightingMan collapsed. He was covered in bugs, and was beginning to break apart. "I... I could see... only... darkness..."

As was almost expected, SageMan appeared. "Brother! I'm here for you!" Treble moved forwards, and a bolt of lightning hit between him and FightingMan. SageMan landed. "What did he do to you..."

"Hey, it was me or him. He used some weird power that wasn't his." Said Treble. "And I've let you get away too often. Before I wasn't able, but now you're coming with me."

FightingMan struggled to move his head. "...Sageman, the power wasn't safe to use. It's eating me apart, just as much as these bugs! We need to go!"

Denny narrowed his eyes. "That power... I wonder. Arthur, bring them in."

SageMan looked up. "Please! Let me go, he won't make it without immediate support!"

Arthur was torn for a moment by the plea, but his pragmatic side won out. "Treble, see if you can keep FightingMan stabilised. SageMan, surrender. You can't beat us, even if Treble is damaged."

"N-no! I'll go down defendi-" SageMan was cut off by FightingMan climbing out of his arms.

"See the plan through!" Said FightingMan. He drew back for a punch, his fist starting to glow. SageMan looked horrified.

"I already lost TornadoMan! Not you too!"

FightingMan punched. Treble stopped it cold, in his own hand. "You're outmatched."

"Run! SageMan!" FightingMan started to glow.

"He's self-destructing!" Said Arthur. "Treble, knock him out!"

There was a 'pew' as SageMan logged out. Treble flared with purple energy, just as there was an explosion. A dark smoke filled the area for a few seconds.

"Treble, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I had enough health to survive the blast." The smoke started to clear, revealing Treble. His front was damaged all over, but he was still standing- and holding some data. "...I, uh, wasn't powerful enough to totally knock him out. I froze what I could of him. You know, time-freeze, not freeze-freeze."

"...Good job." Said Denny. He didn't sound that thrilled, but he clearly wasn't disappointed. "Let's get him into a PET. Beta, do you have enough room in there?"

"...Allow me to rearrange the interior for perfect spatial efficiency. Done."

* * *

"You captured one of the high-ranking members? Excellent." Said Chaud. "How much is left of him?"

Beta looked at the time-frozen remains. "Most of him is in dire need of repair, and he's got a bug concentration of nearly forty percent. His memory will be easy pickings, but if you want to repair the body it will take a long time... I estimate several weeks."

"I owe the credit to Arthur. He was able to win the fight, and his operating was what let him avert the self-destruct." Said Denny confidently.

"I- Well, thanks. You were really helpful too. I couldn't possibly have found him on my own." Said Arthur. "And of course, Treble did the hardest part."

"Hehe! Glad to know I did good!"

"For now, we'll start extracting the memory. We'll repair the body, morality aside it'll grant us more knowledge of Eurasia technology."

"Okay. Mind if I go unwind? That was a tough battle, and... well, I have some stuff on my mind." Said Arthur.

"All of you have earned it. Just be ready for action, in case Eurasia tries to strike again."

"Will do." Arthur turned and left the room. The second the door closed, he sighed. "Poor SageMan."

"It's like SheepMan all over again." Said Treble. "...At least he never thought of me as a friend."

"Yeah... this isn't a real war, but still. I see why everyone thinks war is an abomination now. I agreed before, but now I understand. He's breaking. I feel bad for him and he's not even on our side."

"Well, we did stop his brother blowing himself up. At least he'll have something good in the future!" Said Treble.

"If he survives that long." Said Arthur darkly. Then he seemed to realise something. "...Is it just me, or do they seem a bit unready? SageMan seems to panic easily, and TornadoMan- well, he almost seemed like he was frozen in fear. It's like none of the navis they're using have been properly prepared to face you."

"Huh. I... never noticed. Maybe FightingMan's memory will reveal something. Anyway, I want to go see Flare! I could use something to cheer me up after this talk."

"Sure thing."

* * *

"Wow, that's rough." Said Flare, as Treble finished explaining. "And I heard that you thought PumpMan might be alive, too."

"Yeah, SheepMan's going to be-"

"I already know." Said SheepMan, from behind Flare. "...What do I do now?"

"Well, considering how badly Eurasia seems to be doing I'd say you want to stay on our side." Said Gregar. "Maybe you could convince him to defect?"

"I don't think so." Said SheepMan. "...I ought to explain something, actually. It's nothing big, but in Wiropean culture there are servants called retainers. That's a worldwide word, but Wiropean retainers are taken very seriously. They're meant to serve their master until they die, and they are treated with utmost respect by other servants. It' why I swore to be Flare's retainer, rather than say, a butler or just a friend. Retainers who betray their masters are viewed as less than nothing. The most untrustworthy, soulless dregs of society. Even if we mostly have modern values, retainers have been something in Wirope for centuries."

"Huh. So... PumpMan is someone's retainer?" Said Treble.

"Yes, and I know who." Said SheepMan. "...remember LeviathWoman? She was in development when I... left. PumpMan was intended to be her retainer. If he's back, then it stands to reason that..."

"...you're stuck on the opposite side to your oldest friend." Finished Gregar. "Well, I'll try not to delete him."

SheepMan just nodded. "...I think I'd best leave for the moment. I'll be in the PET if you need me, Flare."

"Okay. You stay safe, now." Said Flare. "...I hope he's going to be okay."

"Well, he seems to be handling it well." Said Gregar. He looked at his hands for a moment. "Hey, Treble. How does Beta fight?"

"I don't know. I got sealed into the area with FightingMan, so Beta couldn't come with me."

"Oh. Well, nevermind. You guys want to come see this thing I found?" Said Gregar.

"Sure."

Gregar led everyone along through the central area for a short while. "Check the BBS." He said.

Treble wandered over. "...Power plant trouble, Gold mystery data, Um! Cybeast fan club?"

Flare read the next one. "And a Cybeast hate club. Of course there's a hate club."

"We did delete a lot of navis." Said Gregar. "But hey, at least the fan club seem a bit more sane than the cultists! ...If you ignore that one dude that wants to be eaten."

Flare scrolled through the hate club thread. "...Wow, about half of them have good points. I was expecting gibberish rage. Gregar, what do make of all this?"

"They do have good points." Admitted Gregar. "Our fight was a bloodbath, and I did have to go after navis to get data to heal myself. A lot of lives would have been better off without us."

"But you weren't to blame!" Said Treble. "You did what you had to. And Flare was acting against her own will! Flare, don't take what they say to heart!"

Flare shook her head. "No, I can use this to help know why people might be mad at me. It'll make it easier to avoid fights with people who I hurt in the past. What's in the fan club conversation?"

"About half of them think you're really pretty!" Said Treble. "And most of them want pictures to prove you guys really exist."

"Let's take one." Said Gregar. "Where's Alias, he's got a camera. Alias?"

Flare jumped up, and flew up a little. She spotted Alias over in the distance, talking with Ember and flew over. In a few moments, she returned with a camera. "Careful you don't bug it, Treble!"

"I'll hold myself in! So, um, smile? Wait, uh, just look happy!"

'Click'.

"Well, let's post it." Said Gregar.

"Wait, how do I look?" Said Flare. "...Hmm. I don't know about the lighting, but... okay, post it I guess."

Gregar made a post. "I wonder how many replies it'll get. Oh, should I caption it?"

"Tell that one guy that wanted to be eaten that I wouldn't mind-"

"No, I'm trying to make a good impression." Said Gregar. "Flare, do you have any better suggestions?"

"Just caption it 'Just found this BBS, hello!'."

"Okay."

"Maybe you guys should make a post in the hate thread? They probably don't want to be left out." Suggested Treble.

Flare nodded. "I agree. I want to make amends for everything that happened in the past. Even if I dealt with the beast viruses, and the system..." She leaned down. "...But what to say?"

"Not sure. Diplomacy isn't something I'm known for." Said Gregar.

"...Well, no matter what I'll be on your side. Even if it goes wrong I'm here for you!"

"...I'm just going to say that I'm sorry. Start things simple. I won't make promises yet, with everything that's happening."

* * *

Arthur was settling down to sleep when Treble said something. "I feel strange."

"...are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I just can't shake this feeling." Said Treble. "It's like... It's like I'm in combat, but I'm not. My cosmetics are here. And I'm in the PET."

"Well, I suppose it might just be leftover from the battle earlier." Said Arthur.

"Yeah, I hope so... 'night."

"'Night."

Arthur was woken at six by a shout. It went through the brick wall like a ghost.

"GREGAR'S MISSING!" Shouted Ethan.

 **Author's notes: It's been too long since I did a proper fight scene! It felt hard to justify a good one these last few chapters, since Treble's power has been getting more and more, but with the right setup: Voila. A Gi is a martial arts uniform. Aaand... CLIFF-HANGER!  
**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : The difference between BN5 GigaCannon and BN6 GigaCannon is that the BN6 version is approximately nine times cooler and more reliable. Oh, I encourage you to try galaxy advances! They're powerful tools, after all! And I will finish this fanfic- I could never just leave it after coming so far. I hope your area recovers from the disaster soon.**

 **RushAlias: You are correct. And of course, Gregar and Alpha together... the worst of enemies.**


	40. Chapter 40: Error

Arthur very nearly kicked the door off its hinges. It was only by some small nagging bit of self-restraint that he just barged out into the corridor and crashed into Ethan's room without damaging anything. "What do you mean?!"

Ethan held up the PET "He's gone! He's not in central area either!"

Arthur's heart seemed to have astral projected into his throat, because it was definitely sinking. "Okay, okay, don't panic! Where could he have gone?"

"I don't know?" Said Ethan. "I have Flare searching, but she can't even sense him!"

"Aaagh, this is not good!" Said Arthur.

Denny came into the room. "Okay, Arthur sit down, you're panicked. Ethan, keep an eye on your navis. I'll get the officials and sweep the area for him. Beta, mail Chaud." There was no reply from Beta. "Beta?" Denny took his PET out of his pocket, and the colour drained from his face. "..."

Arthur leaned over. "Where has he- Treble! aRE YOU OKAY?!" He took his own PET out.

Treble waved. "All fine. Nothing happened all night while the PET was charging."

"But Beta..." Said Denny. "What's going on?!"

"Guys, I heard shouting." Said Blaze, in the doorframe. "Is everyone wearing clothes?"

"Gregar and Beta are missing." Said Arthur. "Please say you know why."

"No. Ember?"

"I haven't a clue. We have to search for them right now! If they've been kidnapped..."

Denny seemed to be the calmest, amazingly. "Ethan. Did Gregar do anything out of the ordinary last night? That would give us some hint as to what happened if he did..."

Ethan nodded. "He... he asked me to load some chips for him before I went to sleep. He said it was for some virus busting. It took a while to load them all since it was more than five..."

Denny took a sharp breath. "Beta asked the same thing."

It took about two seconds for Blaze to put two and two together. "Ohhhh this is NOT good!"

"We'd better get to Chaud!"

* * *

Chaud didn't react beyond clenching and unclenching his hand. "ProtoMan. Get everyone, we have to search now."

"Yes, Chaud Sir."

Chaud looked at Ethan. "How could you let this happen?!"

"I didn't! I had no idea he was going to go somewhere open! Don't criticise me for mistakes I didn't make!"

"You shouldn't have let him out of your SIGHT! This is exactly the chance Eurasia needs! I'll deal with that later though, right now we have to be searching! Use the computer behind me everyone. Denny, go fetch Lan and Mayl. We need every capable netbattler searching, and we need it ten minutes ago!"

"Yes Sir!" Said Denny, running out of the room.

"Treble, let's go!"

"Ember, no time to waste!"

"Flare, Alias. Don't give up!"

Inside Scilabs area, everyone appeared next to each other. Flare was visibly distraught. "Gregar, brother, what have you done... where are you..."

Treble patted her shoulder. "We'll find him. You look from above, you can see a lot from up there!"

Flare kicked away from the floor without another word. Alias took off at a run, and Ember blasted off on her skates. Treble sprinted after them.

"Smell anything?" Arthur could hardly think through the fear, but was determined to cycle through his thoughts until something helped.

"...No hint of Gregar. He can't be near here."

Ethan suddenly lit up. "ZERO! Of course! Alias, let's find Zero. He'll know what happened."

Alias nodded, and called. "Zero, you're watching over me always. Now I need you!"

A red orb became visible and dropped down. Alias caught it, and turned it over to reveal a grille. Ethan smiled. "This ought to help."

The speaker crackled. "Old... Undernet...four..."

Alias looked at the speaker in horror. "He sounded hurt! Zero, what's wrong?! Zero?! Zero!"

"Old Undernet Four?" Said Arthur. "But it's just one area!"

"We'll get down and check!" Said Blaze. "Full speed ahead, Ember!"

"Treble, after her! We haven't a moment to lose!"

Treble went sprinting again, as Alias donned his F-carving and soared over the walkways, Flare closely following.

Lan came into the room. "Jack in, MegaMan! What happened, everyone?"

Ethan sighed. "Gregar is missing, so is Beta! We got a tip that they might be in Old Undernet four, but I've never heard of that area!"

Lan nodded. "I know a way in! But it's a really remote area, it's falling apart! If it's a trap..."

"We'll bail you out if it's a trap." Said MegaMan. "I wouldn't want Flare to lose a brother."

* * *

Everyone charged into the Old Undernet, looking around. "Something feels different here." Said Treble. "I think Gregar was here!"

"Good, we're on the right track!" Said Arthur.

"I don't see a way forwards." Said Ethan. "Lan, I'm counting on you!"

"Look at the BBS." Said Lan. "There's a secret warp pad underneath it."

Alias kicked the BBS board directly out of the floor to reveal a link. Flare inspected it. "It's been used recently... Everyone in!"

They rushed through, coming out in Old Undernet two. The background was a little darker, and everything was outdated. The floor panels were in a different design, the layout seemed different, even the background didn't seem as well-animated as the one in the previous area.

"...Why would Gregar come here?" Said Treble.

Alias grimaced. "...I have a horrible feeling I know why."

Flare went up. "I see the way through. Take a left, then go straight."

Everyone followed her directions, until suddenly they had to stop. "There's a barrier here." Said Ember.

"They're everywhere in this place." Said MegaMan. "They were installed them to stop anyone wandering into here because it's so dangerous. They'll only open if you're strong enough. That one wants you to have an acheivement mark."

"A what?"

"Either one of the four marks you can get for collecting chips, or an official star."

"Well, this came in useful sooner than expected." Alias took out the small yellow star and tapped it against the barrier, which opened. "Flare, lead on."

They went further into the area. It was eerily silent, without even viruses, something Lan pointed out. "Where are all the viruses? This place was overloaded with them the last time I was here..."

Flare suddenly shouted. "I see Zero!"

Everyone ran forwards, and Treble saw Zero on the floor. Alias reached him first, kneeling and picking him up. "Zero, what happened? Who did this?"

"Wait a moment, he's really damaged." Said Flare. "Let's get him to safety."

"Right. Logging out..." Said Alias.

* * *

Zero was placed into a repair program by Flare. Chaud came over to join everyone, while ProtoMan remained in the network. "Damage report?"

"He'll be okay." Said Blaze. "Maybe five hours worth of repairs."

"Are you alright to talk, Zero?" Said Ethan.

Zero nodded. "...Gregar and Beta have been taken. I realised they were in danger, but I wasn't strong enough to fight off three attackers at once."

"Couldn't they defend thenselves?" Said Arthur.

"No... I have a recording of the fight." Zero held out his hands, and a screen appeared. "It will explain better than I can. See through my eyes..." The screen flickered, and was replaced by a recording. The two were in Central area, late at night.

Beta stared at the Cybeast in front of him. "Gregar, the ultimate imperfection, born from a mass of bugs and errors all acting as one and gaining consciousness. The ultimate mistake, the net's greatest blemish. I tried my best to erase you. Yet I was always forced to retreat, to maintain the network. But now I can fight to my fullest. You will experience absolute perfection."

Gregar eyed down Beta, assessing his opponent. He was clearly trying to figure out the perfectionist's game. In his previous life, he tried to kill Gregar- and now in this one he helped prove Gregar's innocence. It was all so confusing to the beast. "I need answers and I know the best way to get them."

Gregar had seen, through MegaMan's memories, the defeat of Alpha first hand- and while Gregar would have preferred deleting the super program himself, it was satisfying watching Alpha get his code handed to him in first person.

"So I see that MegaMan defeated you. Hah, he defeated me as well, so I guess that means you're as imperfect as I am." Gregar jeered, trying to coax a response from his ancient rival.

"He only bested me because I was unaware of his power and had only just reawakened. If I remember correctly, you and Falzar were easily absorbed by both MegaMan and clown of some sorts. You had adequate time to study his tactics and devise a means of defeating him once you escaped his body."

"I have defeated him-"

"With the aid of a NetOp. And even then... you couldn't do it reliably. Inconsistency is a mark of your imperfection."

"You don't have a NetOp here as well."

"I am merely stating that you have only won because of your raw power and and your NetOp's strategy."

"What are you implying slime ball?"

"I am implying that you are a brash and reckless mutt."

"I could take you any day. Let's settle this for good."

Gregar got into a fighting stance readying his claws, his tail lashing out behind him, loaded. Beta however remained neutral, as if the threat of Gregar attacking was like mettaur sending a shock wave through a hole.

"What's the matter, you scared of losing?" Gregar taunted.

"No this place is..." Beta looked around,"...Imperfect. I will only fight you in the ideal environment." He looked back to Gregar who seemed to smirk at the idea.

"And I think we both know what that is." Gregar responded.

It was neither difficult nor time consuming for two super programs to sneak out of Central Area. That and Chip was really connected now to Scilabs now, the first thing Ethan had done was set it up for Scilabs net area, for the rest of Team Alias to meet.

Gregar and Beta had headed back to what Beta openly dubbed the URL of fate. The webspace where Gregar and him first fought. The space itself was old and degrading as when everyone had run there to find Zero, but it was apparently stable enough to hold two of the most powerful programs without totally giving up.

Gregar and Beta slowly let their power flow, changing the very atmosphere around them. Gregar and Beta both held a lot of animosity for the other and they would relieve those feeling right now. Gregar readied himself, as he got into a fighting stance, claws sharpened and waiting. Beta like wise readied himself taking a more defensive approach over Gregar's initial offensive. A red barrier-like energy surrounded Beta.

Gregar recognised the move. "You think that barrier can save you?" Gregar growled. He took a deep and released a stream of fire down the field. Beta didn't budge an inch as the fire blasted against the barrier. When the fire died down, Gregar was surprised to see the barrier still standing and Beta appearing unharmed.

"It appears your power is no longer a match against perfection." Beta mocked.

"Oh please. One fluke does not mean failure." Gregar retorted.

"And yet you're here."

"OH, SHUT UP!" Gregar yelled growing tired of Beta's remarks. He unsheathed his buster and let loose a barrage of energy pellets. The barrier absorbed every shot, and to Gregar's delight, it cracked as the barrage struck. Gregar sheathed his buster and sent a roar blast straight for Beta. This time Beta sidestepped the blast.

Gregar smirked, "Finally deciding to fight back."

"I was testing some of your abilities."

"Keep telling yourself that."

Gregar's body crackled with electricity as he lunged forward. Beta sidestepped to the left, letting Gregar pass right next to him, only to be surprised by a MoonBlade as it circled around Gregar. Beta readied a bamboo sword and slashed Gregar just as the MoonBlade was absorbed by the crystal barrier. Gregar was pushed to his knees as the sword did double damage to him while he used electric surge.

'Looks like I am gonna need a speed boost to keep up.' Gregar thought. He launched a tail arrow, causing Beta to leap away from the spot, but not before the arrow actually grazed the bottom of the barrier. Gregar used this time to activated concentrate and focus his power to his legs. His body shimmered with his green aura briefly. Gregar stood to his feet and used his burst of speed to get up close and personal with Beta. Beta brought up both his arms and tried to strengthen the barrier as Gregar hacked and slashed, chipping it away with almost familiar technique. While Gregar was lost in a frenzied attack, two small vulcans materialised, popping out of Beta's shoulders rather than his arms. When Gregar finally noticed- or maybe remembered- it was too late to dodge. The cybeast was struck by two super vulcans at point blank range. The sheer force of the attack pushed Gregar across the field a few steps. Despite losing a huge portion of his health, Gregar mere brushed off the attack. "You call that an attack," the beast summoned his buster, "this is a buster!" Gregar announced as he offloaded the Gregar buster once more. This time the buster fire was different, Gregar had reduced its power and fire rate, to make the buster easier to move and lessen the recoil on himself. Despite its altered state, the buster was even just as effective tearing though more of Beta's shield.

Beta decided to bring out the big guns now. He summoned a rock cube and sent it flying across the field. Gregar merely sidestepped it and moved forward continuing his fire. Beta smirked then launched an Omega rocket across the field. Gregar easily dodged the missile, but failed to notice the missile's true target, the rock cube. Upon impact the missile exploded, the blast hitting Gregar in the back.

"Why you!" Gregar growled. He prepared a charge bite. Beta noticing the attack, prepared himself. When Gregar was about to release the attack, the cybeast vanished from sight. Beta immediately turned around with a charge shot ready, thinking Gregar had teleported, like in his fight with Megaman, to strike behind. To Beta's surprise Gregar was not there. His confusion with the cybeast's disappearance was resolved when, the energy jaws struck him right in the back. Gregar had never left his original spot instead he merely used an invisible chip. The soul-powered strike shattered Beta's whole barrier, due to the breaking nature.

"Now the real fun begins." Gregar spoke, apparently satisfied that he had gotten rid of the shield. He then lunged at Beta once more. Beta startled by the cybeast's sudden attack, launched another Omega rocket. Gregar merely AreaStealed through and struck Beta square in the chest with a StepSword, with a white capsule attached. Beta who was momentarily paralysed could only watch as Gregar activated another chip combination. Supervulcan and DoublePoint, as Gregar's arms and legs took on the metallic sheen.

"This is what a true SuperVulcan looks like", Gregar smirked as the vulcan fired. Beta was completely blown back by the attack, surviving mostly due to an undershirt and superarmour helping him activate his own invisible before deletion.

Beta was battered from the attack, but he wasn't out. He concentrated and called on one of Denny's high powered healing chips. Within seconds, Beta was back on his feet ready for round two, six hundred and one health at his disposal.

"You're still standing?" Gregar mocked. "...I was almost disappointed to take you down so easily."

"As if I would lose to one so flawed." Beta met Gregar's gaze. "Yet I must commend you Gregar, you are occasionally a genius in battle."

"I must have really hit you hard on the head, because you are not actually praising me. There's no way." Gregar chuckled.

"I mean... that is why I was able to attain this new power." Beta laughed as a red aura glowed around him. The ghost of Alpha briefly appeared before being absorbed into Beta. When the ghost was absorbed the red aura exploded and changed into a bright white glow. "Behold my perfection, ALPHA MODE ENGAGED!"  
The white aura flared to life releasing a strong gust if wind that pushed back Gregar. The cybeast merely braced himself as the force of the wind died down. He looked at Beta and rage filled him.

"YOU SON OF A VACUUM TUBE" Gregar growled, realising the move. Mode change his foot, that was a beast out and he knew it. Gregar's beast aura flared to life as he empowered himself, yet not using his own true form. Gregar lunged at Beta with his claws ready to tear him to pieces. Beta however merely teleported and grabbed his tail. Not Beta's smartest move since Gregar grabbed back his tail and pulled Beta straight into a golem fist.

"I'll tear you to pieces! For everything you put me through!" Gregar growled, his claws turned into burning fists as he activated a FlameHook advance. He rushed at Beta landing one punch, but the second was stopped by Beta, he caught the punch in his giant arm.

"SIGMA ARM!" The navi yelled as a stream of electricity surged through a spike that protruded from his chest. Gregar was pushed back as he was zapped by lightning, the data coursing over him. The attack didn't end there as more lighting bolts shot out of the sigma arm, Gregar was shocked at least twenty times in 10 seconds. Then Gregar broke free of the storm, he was low on health and high on rage.

"No more games," he yelled as he beasted over. "Program advance, Boost!" Gregar yelled.

"This. Ends. Now," Beta responded, "Gamma Charge." He flared as he dashed straight towards Gregar's boost.

When the two legendary programs collided, the resulting explosion shook the area to its very core. After the dust cleared both were down panting and on the verge of collapsing. Gregar held a hand over his shoulder, slumping, while Beta was on his back, unmoving.

"Just like before. You were never my better." Spat Gregar. But then his expression softened, from steel spikes to... maybe wooden spikes. "...Time to go back. Chip, give me a link. I'm low on health and I'm out of chips, I can't go through the main net like this."

A bolt of lightning cracked the floor right next to Gregar. He dodged to the side, and looked around wildly. A familiar voice called down. "You're going nowhere." SageMan floated into view, hands sparking.

"You think you can beat me solo?" Smirked Gregar.

"No." Said SageMan. There was suddenly a 'thwip' as a shuriken was pointed at Gregar from behind.

"We've had you surrounded for almost your entire fight." Said PhantomMan.

LeviathWoman ran up the ramp to the platform, naginata in hand. "...Ready to depart, SageMan. Will you give up?"

"As if." Said Gregar.

PhantomMan moved to attack, swinging his shuriken down. And then the camera distorted. Suddenly it was first-person.

"I won't allow it." Said Zero. "I'm your opponent now!"

Battle begun in an instant. Zero's huge sword flashed, and with two ruthless strokes he'd made deep gashes in PhantomMan. Yet before he could follow through, he had to turn and block the strikes from LeviathWoman, parrying each with expert timing. He launched a Z-phantasm to try and do some damage, but then in a flash of lightning SageMan was in the way, shattering the phantasm and fighting with everything he had. Even if he might not have been a match for Treble, his bladework was good, enough to stop Zero instantly dicing him into quarters. Zero could have overpowered any one of his three foes in combat through sword skills alone, but three on one was too much to block. PhantomMan had pulled out a short dagger, and LeviathWoman was letting loose with ice attacks, every one that slipped through slowing Zero down a little. Then she noticeably stumbled, as if weakened, despite not having taken damage. Zero was able to strike her back, but that was the chance SageMan needed, and with a blast from an M-cannon, Zero was knocked off-balance. SageMan followed up with a hammer, and carefully held the heavy weapon down by his foot for just a split second before swinging it up and catching Zero in the chest, knocking him off the floor a bit. LeviathWoman dashed in, and thrust her spear upwards, impaling him, and then PhantomMan finished the combo attack with a StepCross, sending Zero sprawling on the floor.

Gregar had tried to join in the fight, but immediately after using BeastOver he was barely able to stand, and went down painfully when LevaithWoman swung the blunt end of her naginata into his jaw. She seemed to lose her balance again, but righted herself quickly.

"Are you two okay? LeviathWoman, any problems with the bug?" Asked SageMan.

"I'm not going to let him have the last word." Said LeviathWoman. "Let's take these two and go."

"Lord Serges will be pleased." Said PhantomMan.

Nobody in the room got to see more, as the view suddenly slipped down to show underneath the arena. Arthur realised Zero must have crawled off the edge of the platform and hung there to avoid deletion. The video cut out.

Ethan cursed, boiling with anger and confusion. "How could he be so stupid?! HOW?!" He turned and stared at the wall with a death glare, preparing to punch it.

"They served themselves on a silver platter." Said Denny in disgust. "All that talk of being perfect- he couldn't have done anything worse short of willingly going traitor then!"

"..." Arthur peered around to look at Flare. She wasn't saying a word.

Lan and Blaze were silent too. After a few seconds, Blaze voiced the question on Arthur's mind. "What now?"

Chaud looked at the floor in dismay. "...I don't know yet."

"We have to hunt those navis down! Or trap them! Or- or!" Bargained Ethan, before he was cut off.

"Calm down. We have to-"

"I will not calm down! Everything's gone to hell because I thought that I could trust Gregar to not do anything this stupid!" Said Ethan, as he stormed out of the room.

"We have to scan the net." Said Chaud. "If Gregar is connected to it, then he can't hide. His signature is too distinctive."

"I'll get that done." Said Denny.

"..." Arthur looked down.

"Be strong." Encouraged Treble. "I didn't give up because of MathMan, I won't give up because of this either."

"Yes." Arthur took a steady breath. "Chaud, what can I do? They mentioned Serges by name, is that enough to convict Eurasia?"

"Not quite, but it's a strong link." Said Chaud. "...I'm going to go and get the results of FightingMan's memory, and see if there's anything in there. Arthur, I want you to go get Ethan and get his emotions under control. If he does something rash now then we might end up losing Flare and Alias too. Lan, with me."

* * *

Arthur went out of the room and went for the main corridor. Ethan was still there, seething as he leaned against the wall. "Give me a minute." He said quietly.

"..." Arthur tried to think of something. Anything.

"Flare are you..." Started Treble, before he went quiet. "Ethan! I want to speak to Flare!"

No reply, but Ethan took the PET out of his pocket and passed it to Arthur. Flare was sitting inside, crying. "He's gone. Why would he do this..?"

Treble sighed. "I don't know, Flare. I don't know. I'm here for you."

Arthur opened a chat link between the two PETs, before putting the two of them into an inner pocket of his jacket. For privacy, he told himself. He looked at Ethan for a while, waiting patiently for his anger to abate. Although he did feel uncomfortable watching, after a minute Ethan seemed alright, and stood up. "Huh." he said bitterly. "...Guess it's not as bad the second time it happens. It just makes you feel stupider."

"Second time?"

"First I let Flare go off on that date and I nearly lost her for good. Now Gregar... I was so careless..."

"...You're not. You just tried to give them freedom and happiness in hard times." Said Arthur. "Even if it was your decision to let Gregar go out at night that made it possible, nobody would have chosen differently. Gregar is the one who went far outside anywhere we could protect and then lowered his health to critical."

"...I guess... he was always fine before. I didn't think this time would be different." Said Ethan. "...Couldn't he have just let that stupid grudge go? Or asked to fight somewhere normal? Or even asked me to set up the fight? Couldn't anything have been different?!"

"...Maybe, but it wasn't. All we can do is try and make to most of what we're given. You still have Flare and Alias, so don't give up. You can still make a difference. And more importantly, remember this- Gregar MUST be alive. They went out of their way to capture him, and since his code is going to be too tough to understand I doubt they would even think about deleting him- and even if they DID, he'd come back. They don't have Trill anymore, so they won't be permanently deleting anyone." Said Arthur.

"...I won't leave you alone Ethan." Said Alias. "Let's go show Eurasia what's what."

"..." Ethan smiled sadly, tears drying on his face. "..."

"Okay, now for something you'll probably hate to hear, but... don't do anything hasty." Said Arthur. "We won't get Gregar back that way."

Ethan kept smiling. He seemed tired, even if it was early in the morning. "Didn't expect you to read me that easily... I guess you're right. I'm just... going to go be alone for a while. Look after Flare for me."

"You'd leave her alone?"

"She needs to be with Treble more than me." Ethan walked off.

Arthur stood there for a while. Eventually, to nobody in particular, he said "What's happened to everything..."

* * *

When Arthur walked in on Chaud, the first thing he realised was Chaud was in better spirits than he probably should have been.

"We still have some hope." Said Chaud, as he saw Arthur. "I've been through all the remaining memories, and we can clearly identify Serges, which ought to be enough to move the Wirope government. But... there is something unusual."

"Wait you mean we can get Eurasia taken down now? That's fantastic!"

"Not likely. Serges is clearly only transferring orders, he constantly refers to a 'master'. And while he is high-ranking, he doesn't represent Eurasia. We can take him out and have Eurasia searched, but it still isn't quite enough... if I could be sure the search would find Gregar, then that would be enough, since Gregar was registered as a scilabs navi then we could convict them for kidnapping, but if he's not..."

"Anything else of note in there?"

"Yes. There's good news, neutral news and bad news." Said Chaud. "...Let me start with the good news. We now know exactly where and when Eurasia will strike next. They're sending SageMan to Green Town to, in their exact words, 'get the remaining targets away from Scilabs.' I'll have ProtoMan waiting with a sword in hand, and every capable fighter I have backing me up. If you would, then can you pretend to scramble to respond so they walk into us even harder?"

"Gladly."

"Okay. Now, for the neutral news- interestingly enough all four of those navis,while assigned to lead Eurasia forces against us, don't know who Eurasia are. They've been kept completely in the dark. In fact, thy don't seem to have much worldly experience at all. I have a theory as to why, I'm just waiting on some results from Yuichiro to confirm it."

"And the bad news?"

"...They have Nebula Gray. When that dark power you reported was given to FightingMan, Serges said they'd managed to harness it with the superprogram they already had, and that the negative effects had been suppressed. Only half true, it seems. After analysing, we were sure of it- it's DarkPower."

"DarkPower?"

"It's digitised negative emotion, all you need to know is that it will grant the users incredible power-"

"At the price of their soul. Now I remember. PlugMan was a Darkloid..."

"Yes. If they offer you DarkPower, turn it down."

"Of course."

"DarkPower could only be generated through Nebula Gray, so they must have him. All that's left now is to try and cleanly capture SageMan, and rip ALL of his memories. It's the only hope we have, but it's hope." Said Chaud.

"I'll do everything I can." Said Arthur.

* * *

Eventually, Arthur went and sat in the lobby. He took the two PETs out of his pocket, and noted that both navis were in Flare's PET. "How are you two doing?"

"..." Flare wasn't crying any more, but she didn't look good.

Treble clung to her. "We're both really upset."

"..." Arthur nodded. "...Flare, do you want to go see Ethan now? He might be feeling a bit better."

"Yes. He... he never took loss well... Alias told me that. He nearly starved himself to death when his parents died." Said Flare.

"Okay." Arthur got up, and made his way over to Ethan's room. He knocked gently. "Ethan, it's me." No reply.

Denny came out of the room he'd been sharing with Arthur. "He's with Wily right now."

"Right." Arthur strode off again, eventually reaching Wily's lab. The door was ajar, and he opened it to see Blaze and Ethan sitting with Wily. "...Ethan?"

"Hey." Said Ethan. "...Sorry, Flare. I should have been stronger for you."

"You lost someone as much as I did." Said Flare. "I don't hold a thing against you."

"...That means a lot to me. I... I still feel responsible. And- well, I reacted too strongly earlier. Probably made everything worse." Said Ethan. "...Is Treble at least supportive?"

"The best." Said Flare. "...Let's just... let's just stick together. I can trust you to operate me."

Ethan nodded, and accepted the PET as Arthur passed it back. "Eurasia will pay. They don't get to just walk into my life and hurt those I care for. THAT. Is a promise."

"About that." Said Arthur. "Chaud has some good news for you on that front. I don't know how much is classified, so... well, if you talk to him then he'll tell you everything you can know."

Ethan stood up resolutely. "...Let's hope he doesn't give me any orders that I can't follow." He marched out of the room.

Blaze looked at him. "I worry about him. He's suddenly become so focused..."

"That focus could well bring Gregar back to us. You know what Chaud found?"

"Nope."

"...Well, you probably have more security clearance than me. He can prove Serges is involved enough to have him arrested, and with just a little more evidence he'll have Eurasia down. And he knows exactly-"

"SILENCE!" Said Wily. Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin.

"WHat in the name of-"

"In case you forgot, Arthur, Eurasia may have a spy here." Said Wily. "Do not say another word of confidential information unless you are in a locked room with only the person you want to give that information to. I am not the spy, but if I were? You could have just blown a major operation."

"...He's right." Said Blaze. "...Thanks, I guess."

"I'd better go warn Ethan." Said Arthur. "...You scared me, but yes. Thanks."

"Just don't forget, child." Said Wily.

* * *

The day passed away. Arthur eventually sat down with Treble, before bed. "...How are you holding up?"

"..." Treble looked downcast. Terribly worn down.

Arthur's heart panged. "I wish I could do something to ease the pain. If there is- just say, and I'll do it. No questions asked."

"Sometimes I wish I was just a mindless beast. Those seven minutes were so much simpler."

"...But if you were, you couldn't love Flare. Maybe you wouldn't feel this pain, but... you'd never feel any joy."

Treble nodded. "I try to be strong for everyone, to make everyone happy, but it's harder and harder... what if I fail? I worry... I'm only good at being honest. If there's nothing I can be strong about, or nothing I can be happy for... I don't think I could pretend. And if I fail... I want to say everyone will be fine, but we're all cracking." Admitted Treble. "This whole thing sucks. Kidnapping sucks. Loss sucks."

"Yeah. Let's just hope Chaud can capture SageMan. That's what we're counting on."

"...I don't like to rely on others. But... yeah, I'm counting on him."

"Treble, just remember. Even if you support everyone, you can be supported too. There's no shame in sharing your fears with Flare, even if not this deeply."

"...Yeah. 'Night."

"Goodnight."

 **Author's notes: And now I'm typing in maximum overdrive! Expect a lot of updates over winter break. Writing a decent plot is hard, but I try to keep things interesting. And not to be pushy, but I'd like to give a shout: Check out JaneValentine007's WattPad or Deviantart to see her drawings about this story and her story. Don't forget to comment for her!  
**

 **Reviewer Answers!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : Sadly, no amount of 'Oh nooooo!' can change the past... At least we still have _my_ wolf, even if we're down one. I am all for more art from you, your art is wonderful! They're good ideas, but don't forget about the other side of things... (Oh, and careful you don't spoil any plans in the comments! Everyone else doesn't know!)**

 **RandyPandy: You are correct about the completion stars! I thought it would be a nice way of signifying that Ethan achieved something big, and that his arc had been completed, even though he's still a very major character. You are right to be curious, but you won't know why for a while... And I DID base the four Eurasia navis off the four guardians, although only names and loosely designs (The colours mainly). They have almost totally new personalities and weapons, and new relations to other characters.**


	41. Chapter 41: Storm

Arthur was amazed when he woke up feeling refreshed. He felt genuine confusion that one good night's rest could have made him feel so much better after yesterday's emotional exhaustion. He rolled over and opened up the PET. "Morning."

"Morning!" Said Treble, too quickly.

"Nervous?"

"It only gets worse the more you think about it."

There was a rustle of cheap sheets from the upper bunk. "Don't be worried." Said Denny. "Lan is going."

"He lost to Gregar once, though..."

"Pfft. Lan doesn't lose fights unless things go VERY wrong for him." Said Denny. "He's the sweetest, most upstanding teenager on the continent if not the world, but he does not lose fights in the long term. He learns like nobody's business. The rematch he had with Ethan might have looked close, but in reality he could well have won in twenty seconds."

"...Well, the confidence is nice to have. But he could get overwhelmed. Especially if you ask too much of him."

"Nah. His dad wouldn't let us." Said Denny. "Well, since our current plan for you is literally to sit this one out and let Chaud handle it, want to go find someone to NetBattle?"

"Um, we might have to-"

"Yes!" Interjected Treble.

A smile found it's way onto Arthur's face. "...Yes. I think I haven't challenged William in a while. He's rooming with... Ethan, right?"

"No, Joe. Not that you'd know, because he spends next to no time in there and he wakes up at exactly six every day. I only found out because I asked." Said Denny, jumping out of his bed.

"...You feeling okay? After yesterday..."

"I had literally no emotional attachment to Beta, I'm only angry that I failed to uphold good. I just care about giving the world some sense of justice, and that means serving the officials to the best of my ability. I'll take the next job I'm given and do my best." Said Denny nonchalantly. "I'm not really very good at caring."

"That's..."

"Cold. Mean. Evil. I've heard it all." Said Denny. "So where should we go for breakfast? I know a shop that'll do an entire fry-up in a sandwich."

"...Lead the way. But let's get Ethan first. Maybe William and Blaze if they have time before going out."

Arthur went out and knocked Ethan's door. "We're going to go get breakfast, want to come?" He called.

"You can open the door." Responded Ethan.

Arthur stuck his head in. "We're going to that one shop that does a fry-up in a sandwich. Want to come?"

"..." Ethan looked like he hadn't slept much. "Sure. Just let me get changed."

Arthur went back out to see Denny with William and Joe. He couldn't help but feel guilty looking at them and knowing two were missing their navis. Could things have been different? Could he have changed this?

"Hey, earth to Arthur." Said Joe. "Ping."

"Pong." Responded Arthur.

"You kind of just zoned out, and your face went really dark." Said Joe. "...Hard times, I guess."

"Yeah." Said Arthur, still turning his thoughts over in his head. "...Oh, let's not forget Blaze."

* * *

"Denny, how in the world do you know this place better than me? I LIVE here!" Said Blaze as Denny guided everyone through the streets.

"Just my work ethic. Getting to places fast even when I'm off-duty is a nice little bonus." replied Denny. "How long until your LevBus?"

"I have an hour." Replied William. "I assume it'll be the same for you, Blaze?"

"Yeah. Although we're not supposed to talk about it."

"And we're here." Said Denny, stopping outside a tiny shop. It was more a permanent vendor than anything. "Word of advice, it's all good apart from the black pudding."

Everyone queued up, and got a sandwich or wrap full of breakfast, before going over to nearby benches.

"...I wonder how my parents are doing. I forgot to message them yesterday, with everything that's been going-"

"Do it now." Said Ethan without a trace of hesitation. "Trust me, you will never regret doing it. Never."

Arthur nodded. "I hope they're not too worried..." he started typing out a message. It wasn't too detailed, since practically every other thing Arthur knew was confidential, but it got the one point he knew they would care about across. I'm okay.

Treble piped up. "So who's staying at Scilabs? I'd love to get some netbattles in today!"

Ethan raised a hand. Denny and Joe followed suit. Blaze spoke. "Burn is staying, and so is Mayl, if you know her. Chaud didn't want to bring large numbers in case he tipped anyone off, so everyone going is-" She clapped a hand over her mouth. "Wow, I'm bad at being a secret agent."

Joe shrugged. "Yes, but a wise man once said: Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something."

"...Is that an actual proverb?" Said Blaze. "I love it!"

"You got that from that saturday morning cartoon." Accused William with a smile, before taking a bite of his food.

"Guilty as charged." Admitted Joe. "But it's still my favourite saying."

"..." Arthur started to get lost in thoughts again. Joe was still holding up pretty well. He'd cared about his partner, that couldn't be questioned, but he wasn't showing his hurt. It had only been a few days ago... But then again, death was only the end if you were a human. Lost was probably more accurate as a term than dead.

"Arthur, hello." Said William. "That's twice today you've zoned out."

"Sorry. I guess I've just had a lot to think about recently." It was true.

"Want to share?" Said Blaze.

"...Not right now. It's all dark stuff, and you don't need to be worrying about it when you have an important mission in an hour."

"I can respect that. But you're not going to bottle whatever is making your face go like that up." Said Denny.

"Yeah. At least tell me!" Said Treble.

Arthur smiled. "Thanks. Well, you guys just let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

"There's something actually." Said Ethan. He went into one of his pockets and pulled out some chips. "...You can have these until Gregar's back. They're useless to me without him."

Arthur took them carefully.

"It's my Muramasa, and that BugCurse you never got back, also BlackBarrier." Said Ethan. "Oh, and I might as well go all the way- take these too. I'm sure Gregar wouldn't mind." He took Gregar's now empty PET out of his pocket and tapped a few commands into it.

Arthur looked down to see he'd received 13 BugFrags. "Thanks, these will really help out. I'll do my best to get him back. Oh, this reminds me though..." Arthur went into his own pocket. "I never got around to trading this to you. I know I delayed it because it would have been nice for our navis to be the ones trading, but right now I think we need to just make sure everyone gets through this." He offered GSTreble.

Ethan nodded. "Flare, this is your chip. So, permission to trade it?"

"Of course!"

Ethan filed through his pack, and took out the CBFlare chip. "...Use it well."

"You too." They exchanged the data.

Blaze sat there. "Hey, how many giga chips do each of you have? They're pretty rare, three is a lot."

"BugCharge, BugRiseSword, FolderBack, CBFlare... four. Five if you count the BlackBarrier I'm borrowing."

"I have CrossDivide, CBGregar, GSTreble, HubBatch and BlackBarrier... Five! What about you, Blaze?"

"I have OmegaRocket and BassAnomaly." Said Blaze. "I've been looking for some more since they're so good for swinging battles. And I heard a preeetty interesting rumor that you can buy a GigaFolder customisation part from this one place in the Undernet."

"GigaFolder? Well, if that's anything like MegaFolder then I have to have it!" Said Ethan. "Seriously, MegaFolder was the best thing I gave Alias all year. Some of those advances just eat through your MegaChips."

"No good for me, Treble can't run it." Shrugged Arthur. "...Wait a moment. When did you get BassAnomaly?"

"Oh, Denny gave it to me." Said Blaze.

"True. She earned it." Confirmed Denny. "...So, Ethan. What are your plans for today?"

"Well... Wily wanted to show me some of his engineering, actually. Maybe I can finally get my head around forcefields."

"You should make some better custom PETs. I've seen the files on your business, even if you did have the proper equipment for quality modifications for those PETs, I doubt they are the best you can do, considering the inner workings of that little NetGaia connector in the mainframe." Denny said.

"How the hell did you find that, it's the size of a nut." Said Ethan. "...Well, now that I think about it I should've known I'd be watched. You didn't damage it, did you?"

"No, I had Wily take it apart before I put it back- can't raise suspicions, after all. It's at least half the reason he likes you." Said Denny.

"Huh. Well, I would't mind giving some professional equipment a spin." Said Ethan. "...In fact, I'd love to. Mind if I head back now?"

"We've all finished our food." Pointed out Joe.

* * *

Arthur watched patiently from a distance as Ethan and Wily pored over a huge machine for forming metals. Wily didn't seem nearly as old now that he was in a workshop, as if his cane was for show. Ethan seemed to already know how to operate half the equipment, but every now and then WIly would stop him and point out that while Ethan WAS following standard procedures for the machinery, there was always some secret way to do it better.

Eventually, Arthur wandered over. "How's it going?"

"The technology here is wayyy beyond anything I could cobble together back home." Said Ethan. "Don't get me wrong, Gregar and Flare and Alias have PETs that are better than anything you can buy for under a million zenny, but this stuff..." Ethan shook his head. "I guess I'm glad Wily offered to pay for the materials we're using."

"What are you using?"

"A titanium alloy, laser-sintered for the casing. You don't wanna know about the circuitry." Said Ethan. "And if you do, tough luck because I only barely grasp the basics of this stuff. It's some kind of next-gen prototype, really..."

"No more than Lan's." Said Wily. "The boy's been going into his grandfather's research about EM technology, now THAT'S complicated. The frequency calculations are alone are going to take him years!"

"...Wow."

"Okay look, want to be blinded with amazement? Watch this!" Said Ethan, flicking a switch on a mass of circuitry. "...And now nobody in the room can jack out without going through whatever virus is in this thing."

"It's a very basic version of how my new Colonel and Iris systems will work, actually." Said Wily. "...Alas, I've been having some power issues when it comes to doing things on a larger scale. But I'm sure I can solve the problem!"

"This is all incredible. I didn't know technology had come so far." Said Arthur. His feet had been getting sore from all the standing, and out of the corner of his eye he spotted a chair. It looked like some kind of throne, really, but it had a cushion so it was a chair. "Oh, there's a chair in here! If only I'd known!" Arthur skirted around the machine, and sat down, noticing Wily suddenly drop his screwdriver in horror.

"DON'T SIT ON-"

Arthur's vision went seven kinds of wrong, and then he felt like he was both throwing up and having a heart attack over the space of two seconds. He collapsed onto his front oddly painlessly, and opened his eyes. "Ohh... ow. Jeez, why is there an electric chair in the room with nowhere else to-"

"Arthur! Arthur, this is a bit messed up to say, but you just did the coolest thing ever and you're getting a fist bump once we get you out." Said Ethan from... somewhere.

"Where are you? You were right next to me, now your voice is coming from all around." Said Arthur.

"Stand up and look around. You probably won't get a chance like this often!" Said Ethan.

Arthur got up, and realised his body was moving more easily. And then the fact that the floor was made of panels hit him. "..." Words wouldn't come. "...Is this virtual reality, or am I... ACTUALLY in the net...?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Said Ethan. "Wily's gone to try and find his notes on jacking out of that chair. Apparently it was an old project of his that got scrapped once viruses started flooding the net. Anyway, don't go anywhere because we don't know what happens if somebody's consciousness takes damage."

"...Right. Hey, if this is my only chance... send Treble in here! It'd be nice to see him eye to eye!"

"No, he refused outright." Said Ethan. "He begged me to send in Alias and Flare, but he wouldn't go himself. He's afraid he'll bug you, and... well, I agree. There's no way a human'll have any kind of protection against a bug, and we probably can't have it fixed either."

"Oh. Guess I might as well make the most of this! Where are your navis, I'm going to go talk to them!"

"Flare is making sure nobody comes in and finds you in here, R is erasing the system logs from the chair, and Alias is sweeping for viruses."

"...Aw. Do you think I can use BattleChips? We all secretly want to swing a sword."

"Where's your sense of self-preservation gone?" Said Ethan. "Just hang tight and don't freak out."

"That's fair. Do you think I show up differently to normal navis on scans?"

Ethan nearly choked. "Oh heck."

There was a whump as the door to the lab opened. "Found the notes. Arthur, repeat after me: Soul out."

"Soul out." Arthur's vision went black for a second, before he opened his eyes in the real world. "...Honestly, I enjoyed that for all thirty seconds of it."

"I knew I should have taken that old pulse-in machine apart..." Said Wily. "But it's nice to know it still works, as it is."

"Arthur! You're okay!" Said Treble. "I thought you were going to die in there!"

"It's alright, I was just a bit surprised. Why is the only chair in the room some kind of death trap, though?"

"Well, most people don't look behind the laser printer at all, and the ones that do notice the bit of paper that says 'Do not sit'." Said Wily. "I only kept that machine in case I needed to cheat death for a few years to finish my work."

"Contingency plan for your own death. Not bad." Said Ethan. "Oh, Arthur. Fist bump."

"...Cool." Arthur bumped, getting out of the pulse-in machine. "Well... I should probably get out of the lab before I trip something even worse. Catch you later, Ethan."

* * *

Arthur wandered around until he found Burn, in the aviators room. "Want to NetBattle? I heard you're free."

"Okay. I have wondered how we'd match up. The computers here are safe, so... SteamMan's waiting." Burn pointed the PET towards the computer.

"Treble, hunt. Let's win this one."

"Like we wouldn't!"

"Overconfidence is a really flimsy shield, I'm warning you." Said Burn, getting his chips ready. "Okay SteamMan, let's break 'em down."

SteamMan faced Treble, arms at the ready. Treble's whites disappeared.

"Treble, destroy! Don't try a quick strike on him!"

Treble thankfully heeded the warning, also recognising that the defensive stance would have let SteamMan very easily counter a brash assault by punching him in the face. SteamMan stamped, and the floor below Treble cracked, forcing him to start running to avoid the appearing jets of steam. He fired his buster a few times while sprinting, but SteamMan shrugged off the shots with ease, clearly built to take a beating.

"Thunder, Reflector2, CornShot2, FireBurn3 in!"

"AreaSteal, WaveArm3, download."

Treble fired the Thunder, still moving to dodge the endless jets of steam, when SteamMan warped forwards. Treble activated the Reflector in response, and was promptly sent sprawling on the floor when SteamMan punched through it like it was paper. Only getting excited, Treble was on his feet and lunging insanely fast, blasting away with the CornShot. It went wide as Treble was forced to dodge a steam jet, and then with a ground-shaking slam SteamMan unleashed the WaveArm, the shockwave rushing forwards. While it wasn't fast enough to hit, it was an effective play to shepherd Treble into striking range. The problem was that Treble went into that range before SteamMan was actually ready, and the FireBurn found its mark. SteamMan punched at the ground where Treble had been, hand going straight through.

"Let's change this game up." Said Arthur. "GregarEX, UnifyCode, FlareEX. Program advance, DoubleBeast!"

"A new program advance? Well, Fan, GolemHit2, WhiteCapsule."

Treble was wary for a second before the Fan appeared, sucking him in with far more force than the unassuming box looked like it could produce. The giant fist materialised right where he was getting sucked towards, and he struggled to try and get back uselessly, taking the crushing blow and feeling his body go numb for a second. SteamMan took a solid step forwards and slugged him with a hydraulic punch, sending Treble flying. Unfortunately for SteamMan, Treble landed close enough to the Fan to take a quick step and break it, restoring Treble's freedom of movement. That was all he wanted before activating the DoubleBeast advance, the copies of the two appearing wither side of him for a moment. Then SteamMan was assaulted from two fronts, unable to deal with the massive amount of damage thrown at him by the variety of weapons Flare and Gregar produced. The flurry ended quickly, and Treble took a running jump for SteamMan, bringing his claws down. SteamMan unflinchingly made a powerful uppercut, and while he stopped Treble eviscerating his face he didn't stop his hand getting clawed.

Arthur noted it suddenly refused to retract after the punch, as if jammed. "He's crippled. Bring him down with Reflector2 and BugCharge."

Treble wondered why he'd been given the Reflector2 until there was a jet of steam in front of him. Of course. Without his main method of attack in his fists, then SteamMan would be relying on his passive jets, and any other tricks Burn had in the chips. A jet prepared to shoot out from below, and this time Treble raised the Reflector far out of range of SteamMan's fists, and the water was converted to a pulse of damage. As Reflectors had a tendency to do, it briefly stunned SteamMan when his attack was unexpectedly turned against him, halting his further jets for a precious few seconds. The timer for BugCharge was ticking down while the chip warmed up, and Burn knew it was now or never.

"JusticeOne, SilverFist!"

SteamMan made a casting motion and a humongous metal metal rocketed down at Treble's general location. Fast as he was, there was still no escaping the giant shockwave that the fist of justice created. Treble staggered for a moment in the blast, and then was unexpectedly smacked in the face by the SilverFist, that had been launched like a bottle rocket. But it was all for naught, BugCharge was charged and Treble had five hundred health to spare. Leaping forwards from the rickety flooring left by SteamMan's attack, Treble's face glowed for a second as he growled, before a glowing copy shot off, and then another and another. SteamMan didn't have the mobility to dodge, and tried to weather the attack to no avail.

'SteamMan, logged out'

Treble stood up, and punched the air. "Nice!"

"Well done, Treble." Said Arthur. "Good try, Burn. I never thought to combine Fan and GolemHit..."

"Don't forget the WhiteCapsule. It makes it much easier to chain things together." Said Burn. "Glad you could learn something."

"Actually, there's something else I'm curious about." Said Arthur. "...How did SteamMan launch that SilverFist? Treble, you saw it right? He was nowhere near you but you still got punched."

"It's pretty simple. Just hit a certain combo of buttons when you put the chip in and it becomes a ranged attack. Not sure why it doesn't automatically, but it makes a nice surprise attack." Said Burn. "Anyway, between you and me, the alarm should go up in about ten minutes."

True to prediction, there was an 'urgent' message sent to Arthur's PET before the hour changed. He was out of the door in seconds, on the way down to the LevBus. As soon as he got to the station, he looked down to Treble. "Any word on how things are going?"

"Nope. But you trust Denny, right?"

"Oh yeah. If Denny says they've got it, they've got it."

Ethan came running up. "There you are. Time to go get a bit of payback, eh?"

"Together."

They went into the station, and hopped onto the Green Town bus.

* * *

The first thing Arthur noticed was that the LevBus was shaking. "Uh, Ethan... these buses shouldn't shake, right?"

"No, no they really shouldn't." Said Ethan. "They're held up by forcefields!"

"Well, what could shake one? Is the power dying?"

"... no, we'd fall straight out of the air first. It must be some kind of extreme wind..." Said Ethan. "Where would extreme wind come from?! There's nothing to generate that nearby..."

Arthur's PET beeped. "Treble, is that important?"

"Okay, we need to change course!" Said Treble. "It's from Chaud, they've hijacked sky town, and that's where the wind is coming from. They're winning the fight down there, but if the weather machine is broken further then the whole area could get hit by a tornado!"

"Oh my." Said Arthur. Somehow, stronger words just... didn't do it justice, leaving only understatement. A tornado and a major city would not mix.

"I'm going to tell the driver to change course." Said Ethan. "I know enough about these buses to say that he can." He got out of his seat and marched over to the front. There was a very short argument before an even bigger gust of wind rattled the bus, and the driver shut and and hit a few buttons. Ethan ran back over. "Next stop, sky town."

The winds seemed to die down as they got near to Sky Town. The bus docked in a solid steel frame, to the relief of the passengers. Arthur and Ethan were first off. Ethan ran out onto a metal walkway, and stared up at the giant elevator.

"The weather control machines are up there!" Said Treble. "So we'd better get up too."

"Arthur... can you do this?" Said Ethan. "Last time it was a sunny day, and you couldn't-"

Arthur marched forwards and hit the call button on the elevator. "Don't make me think about it." He said firmly. "I _cannot_ fail everyone here. People will die if I fail."

"Nothing like a bit of potential death to motivate, huh?" Said Ethan, as the doors opened. "Well, thanks for being brave."

They walked into the elevator and it started to ascend. Arthur looked out of the window with a furious glare. Maybe if he was angry enough over the current situation it would delay the vertigo he knew was coming. They were silent on the way up, letting them hear as the wind outside started to pick up. Apparently even if the ground below was safe, the platform was a different story. The doors opened.

"Let's do this." Said Arthur. He was trying everything. Focus on other things, anger, bravado, whatever could possibly take his mind off the thousand meter fall. He stepped onto the exposed platform, as a gust of wind blew.

Ethan followed. "...I don't like this. The platform is strong, of course, but it should be protected from the weather by the equipment up here."

"Guide the way. I wasn't up here before."

"Okay, the weather machines are this way..." Ethan moved off cautiously.

Arthur looked straight ahead. Down was just asking for breakfast to make a guest appearance. The machines were... "Oh my word. Oh.. just... who in their right mind would do that?!" He despaired at the row of weather machines at the side, all facing inwards towards the platform, blasting a storm at them.

"Actually, it's really good design." Said Ethan. "They're all test machines for the big ones that actually do stuff, they normally make sure the pathway is extra stable and safe in terms of environment."

"Yeah, well now they're a death trap. Treble, hunt." Arthur's hand was shaking like a leaf, but he wasn't being stopped.

"Flare, you get in there too. Find whatever data is making these things go haywire and make sure it's absolutely gone."

"There's only a few viruses in here, nothing else." Said Treble, as he finished off the last one with a hard bite, and spat a chunk of mettaur helmet out. "...Guess this place isn't big enough for a dedicated defence."

"Good for us." Said Ethan. "Alias, you get the next one. Flare, you come out and go for the one after."

"T-Treble, back." Arthur gripped the PET hard enough he was worried he'd break it, but the prospect of dropping it was much worse. "You get the last weather machine shut down."

* * *

They burst into the facility at the end to see a few scientists running to and fro. "Alright, help is here!" Called Ethan. "What's wrong with the system?"

"We don't know! A strange navi came in and took control from us! We can't regain it!"

"Where can we jack in?" Said Arthur. It was much easier to focus indoors.

"The main server is here!"

Flare spoke up, oddly. "Is... is the force program safe?"

"Yes, thankfully it hasn't been targeted." Said a scientist. "So no need to worry about everything exploding."

"Good. Ethan, this is my time to shine." Said Flare.

"Flare, time to ride!" Ethan jacked in.

"Treble, hunt!"

The inside of the weather server was remarkably similar to the weather outside. Windy. Flare flew straight through the heart of the storm like it was nothing worse than a breeze. "Someone's locked the way into the control area!" She called.

"What?!" Called Treble. "I can't hear you over this wind!"

Flare was suddenly four times larger, with the voice to match. "SOMEONE HAS MADE A VERY, VERY POWERFUL BARRIER AND I NEED A KEY!" She shouted, before dropping her cybeast form.

Arthur frowned. "...Is that barrier part of the facility?"

"Yes, it's meant to keep intruders out." Said a scientist. "We keep a spare copy of the key data in the roof's satellite, it's just up that ladder."

"Right." Arthur didn't think. All his thoughts were focused on not thinking. His hands hit the ladder before he could even contemplate what he was about to do, and he was halfway up the ladder before Ethan called.

"Shouldn't I handle that?"

"You make sure Flare's okay! I've got this! I have to!" Arthur pushed on at full speed, and threw a trapdoor open before Ethan could protest. The roof was gusty, but Arthur was succeeding. He wasn't thinking about it. He was thinking about getting to that satellite, and getting the data. He ducked a bit to reduce his area, and walked over with heavy steps. "Treble, get the data."

"On it! ...Okay, here it is!"

"Back!" Arthur walked away quickly as a particularly strong gust shattered his focus. He suddenly took in the full gravity of the situation, and with an oddly low-pitched scream jumped down the trapdoor. "I've got it I've got it! Treble, get in there!"

Treble charged forwards, before coming to the raging winds. "...I don't know if I can get through this!"

Flare came forwards, and took the key. "I can! You just leave this to me."

She went through the storm again, and the barrier shut down. Arthur looked to Ethan's PET to see what was going on. Flare walked up to see the control panel. "...Where is this navi?" She asked.

"I-I don't know!" Stammered a scientist. "They were like a disembodied Navi, mostly..."

Flare suddenly snapped an arm up to block an attack aimed for her face. Another arm bounced off it. "...You!" She said, recognising the attacker.

"TornadoMan?! You're in holding at Scilabs!" Said Arthur.

"Heh... heh... heh... Wouldn't you have liked to believe that?" Said TornadoMan. "But that's neither here nor there. In fact, in a tradition sense, you're right! You do have him. At least, his personality and about half of his body. I here have the other half of his body, and a few extra tricks! For example, this!" He took out a small program with a button on the front, and clicked it. Nothing happened.

"...What was that?" Said Flare in confusion.

TornadoMan stared at it. He clicked it a few more times. "Well I was TOLD it would defeat Flare if I encountered her!" He threw it on the ground in disgust. "Let's hope my other gift isn't so useless!" His disembodied form started to flicker with black fire.

Arthur recognised it immediately. "DarkPower! Ethan, watch out! He's more powerful now!"

"Flare, here's DoublePoint and SuperVulcan!" Said Ethan.

"He's evasion based. Careful." Warned Arthur.

TornadoMan made some kind of demented attempt at clotheslining Flare with his arms, the lack of joints letting them fly around freely. Arthur realised that the lack of a main body and ability to move what he had like that, TornadoMan was going to be a pain to hit. That didn't stop Flare peppering the entire general area with her buster, some shots inevitably finding their marks. She aimed the vulcan carefully and fired, but TornadoMan's evasion was something else, just shifting his chestplate out of the way.

"Transform, here are wind chips. You can't dodge the storm breath." Said Ethan.

Flare did transform, and dwarfed TornadoMan. He still tried to attack, but he was suddenly hard-countered. Flare was flying outside his range, immune to his winds that wanted to push her down. There was no conceivable way he could damage her, it should have been an easy victory. And for a sweet minute, it seemed that way.

Then Flare started losing altitude.

"Flare, what are you doing?!" Said Ethan. "Are you ok?"

"I FEEL TIRED... I CAN HARDLY... STAY AWAKE!"

Arthur frowned. "Treble, we'd better get in there. Flare, do you have the means to disperse the storm?"

"I'LL... MMMH..." Flare yawned. "I FEEL... FEVERISH. HELP..." She beat her wings, and the storm quelled. Treble charged through.

"Okay, no messing around." Declared Arthur. "He's weak, so let's just finish him with your transformed breath, that's hard to dodge. Here are your chips."

"You think I'll just stand there and take i- eyah?!" TornadoMan was interrupted as GS-Treble caught him with far more dexterity than his giant form normally displayed, pinning him to the floor. TornadoMan's head and arms flailed at mach 2.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

"I-I don't know! I just clicked a button to beat her! I- glhk!"

Treble suddenly had a fang above and a fang below TornadoMan's helmet. "UNDO IT. NOW."

"Or what? You'll kill me? Making you suffer is my job! We're enemies! There's no time for mercy here! Mercy is worthless, all that there is is suffering, and how much I can cause my enemy!"

"Okay look." Said Arthur. "I was contemplating just locking you in a PET like I'm supposed to, but after that little tirade... Have your way, Treble. He clearly has no way to undo the damage, so just make sure he won't bother anyone else."

"Ooooh, struck a nerve did I?"

"Yes. But hey, if you don't want mercy, then I won't give it to you." Shrugged Arthur.

TornadoMan's further remarks were cut short as Treble managed to get his torso and helmet into his mouth. The arms and legs continued to flail incredibly wildly, as Treble very deliberately didn't bite down hard enough to delete. Arthur watched in somewhat morbid curiosity as Treble simply ate the navi, slowly. He didn't even notice Alias coming in and restoring the weather machinery. It only took a few seconds before TornadoMan was gone. Then he was snapped out of watching as Treble immediately bounded over to Flare. She was lying on the floor.

"WHAT... HAPPENED?" Said Flare. "I CAN'T CHANGE BACK TO NAVI, AND I FEEL SO... DRAINED."

"I DON'T KNOW. DO YOU WANT TO RIDE ON MY BACK? ARE... YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE DELETED, RIGHT?"

"I'M TOUGHER... THAN THAT..." Flare shakily got to her feet. "LOG ME OUT, FOR NOW... I'LL... TRY AND REST IT OFF..."

* * *

Getting off the station was an ordeal for Arthur, but for the sake of not separating Treble from Flare, who obviously needed some kind of restoration program, he swallowed the oncoming bout of fear and just about made it over the bridge, nearly freezing up at the end as his adrenaline wore off completely.

They were back on the ground when Arthur got some mail from Chaud. 'Mission total success. Lan has captured SageMan, Courts protected. Returning to Scilabs. Good work at weather station.'

The news was great, but Arthur couldn't respond as positively. 'Flare seems to have become very ill, for lack of a better term. She can't change form and she feels low on power. We will need to have her looked at asap.'

"Flare... Oh, Flare... I'm here, just don't be deleted..." Said Treble.

 **Author's notes: If you got the reference I made this chapter, you cool. Also I went back to BN6 and found that it's FireBurn3 that comes in B code, not 2. And Flare is mysteriously ill! I will remind yall here and now that neither she nor Treble are biological life.**

 **I am now done with college for two weeks! So let's see what I can get out for you guys!**

 **No reviews...**


	42. Chapter 42: Ploy

They made it into scilabs in record time, Ethan all but pushing a few people out of the way in a mad dash for a repair program. "...Flare, can you get back to your normal self? I don't know if you're going to fit like this."

Flare shifted uncomfortably. "I... CAN'T. IT'S LIKE THERE'S A CHUNK OF MY POWER MISSING..."

"What did TornadoMan do to her?" Said Arthur. "That button clearly wasn't an attack itself, and it didn't affect Treble or Alias. Treble, you get in there and see if you can do anything."

Treble ran over to Flare, looking up at her. "...Flare, your power really is missing. I can't sense it." He looked downcast. "I'll stay with you."

"...Here, take this." Said Arthur, feeding in the advance. "As long she's stuck, then you might as well be the same size as her. I'll go and get Yuichiro, if anyone can help it's him."

Arthur was walking through the labs when an alarm went off. Burn appeared out of nowhere. "What's the alarm for?"

"Intruder in the mainframe." Said Burn, running off.

Arthur frowned, but after a few moments the alarm went quiet.

* * *

"Okay, I've got Yuichiro..." Said Arthur, coming back into the aviators room. "Oh, hey Burn. What tripped the alarm?"

"Things just got complicated." Said Ethan. "You'd better have a look."

Arthur went forwards, to see a PET on the desk with a slightly familiar jumpsuit in red. "...Oh. But how?!"

"I don't know." Replied the navi. "...But I was called back from deletion." She seemed to gasp for breath. "And that isn't going so well for either of us." Replied Falzar. "Urgh..."

Yuichiro came forwards. "Well, that explains everything with Flare's condition quite well. Some of her power must have automatically diverted back to Falzar."

"I don't want it." Said Falzar.

"Huh? Why?" Said Ethan.

"...I lost. I obviously can't ever defeat Gregar. So there's... not much point in me existing. If I could just give this power back, then-"

"IT'S OKAY..." Said Flare. "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE FOR ME..."

"FLARE, SHE MIND CONTROLLED YOU FOR DAYS!"

"BUT... SHE LISTENED TO ME SOMETIMES." Sighed Flare. "WE'RE NOT ON GOOD TERMS, BUT I DON'T HATE HER ENOUGH TO WANT HER TO BE DELETED."

"...You're naive." Said Falzar. "What purpose do I have now? There was no need to call me back from the dead."

"Well, we actually didn't try to." Said Arthur. "I have a sneaking suspicion that the trick TornadoMan used was reviving you to weaken Flare."

"Well, the evidence supports this, but how would you perform a ranged resurrection?" Said Ethan.

"Actually, I don't think it's that implausible." Yuichiro stated, before inspecting Falzar's PET. "Maybe with the right kind of signal you could jump-start a revival. Tell me Falzar, did you feel anything before you returned?"

"There was a signal calling me, yes... It gave me a strong anchor to the non-deleted realm. I didn't try to pull myself back, but the Phoenix system was able to do it almost instantly."

"Hmm... Well, at least this tactic won't work on anyone else." Said Arthur. "What will happen if Flare and Falzar were exposed to each other? Will they fuse?"

"IT'S LIKELY. I DON'T KNOW WHO THE DOMINANT PERSONALITY WOULD BE..." Flare groaned, and leaned against Treble.

"Let's not do it for now. With everything going on, we should just wait until we can set up dedicated tests to do this safely. Maybe even wipe out Eurasia first."

"I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE HER SIDE, THOUGH. SHE'S VULNERABLE LIKE THIS, WHAT IF SHE WAS ATTACKED?" Protested Treble. "AND CAN WE REALLY CARRY ON THE FIGHTS WITHOUT HER?"

"Well... I think I want to get a status update from Chaud." Decided Arthur. "With SageMan's memory, maybe Eurasia won't even be a problem anymore, which would make this much easier. Treble, you can stay with Flare. I'm giving you my express permission to delete anyone that goes near her without her say-so."

* * *

"Chaud, how are we progressing?"

"It's good. The memory is completely intact, so we'll be able to decipher it shortly. I imagine by tomorrow I'll be able to conclusively prove Eurasia's guilt."

The holding computer buzzed. "You won't. I told you before, we're in the right! We've done nothing wrong, you're the criminals!" Called SageMan.

Chaud was about to say something when Arthur wheeled on SageMan first. "SageMan. Define criminal. Because if defending innocent people from attacks you have orchestrated is a crime, then lock me up. How could you believe you're on the right side? Your team have done nothing but start fights, and kidnap navis, and try to outright drown me. So I demand an explanation that should be as easy to you as telling the time, why are you in the right?!"

"I... I was told your country was trying to delete us! That you wouldn't stop until we were deleted! And I haven't seen anything to contradict that!"

"...You started every fight. What did you expect from that?"

"I-I don't know! I was told that would keep everyone safe! That's all I tried to do!"

"...Chaud, do you believe him?"

Chaud sat in front of the computer. "I notice you haven't mentioned something. SageMan, we're about to decode your memory anyway, but tell me: What is the Eurasia institute of technology?"

"They make navis... We researched them, when you mentioned the name before..."

"...Your commander is on the board of directors." Said Chaud, pulling up some data. "This institute has been convicted of stealing from us and kidnapping. Now I know one of your friends is an espionage navi. So I'm going to give you a message. You can pass it onto him via email, I'll even give you the connection for a few seconds. 'Research Eurasia secrets'."

"Chaud, have you gone mad?"

"No. I think I've found the fatal flaw in our enemy. If what I suspect is true, then... these navis know nothing lf Eurasia, they might not even have a reason to fight. If they realise they're being used and likely sent on suicide missions against you and your company, then I doubt they'll be so willing to continue down their path. SageMan. Don't live in denial of what your ally finds." Warned Chaud.

"...We are in the right, we have to be, we have the right to exist..."

"I never said you didn't. Obviously, we can never trust you, but I'll settle for you getting out of our way." Said Chaud.

* * *

"Well, I think SageMan might be on the verge of a mental breakdown." Arthur told Ethan. "And there's a chance we'll be able to get PhantomMan and LeviathWoman to give up. And by extension, their retainers."

"If that's true, then we'll have the freedom to move about and finally get back at Eurasia. Gregar won't be kept down, so it's just a matter of time before kidnapping him becomes their biggest mistake."

"How's Flare?"

"Weak, but she's happy with Treble. They're cute together as long as you don't realise they're twice as tall as most navis. Falzar seems to basically be depressed, after she failed to beat Gregar."

"Okay..." Arthur was trying to think of something to say when Ethan's PET beeped.

"Huh? It's from Zero. Hope he's recovered alright."

"Read it out?"

"'Ethan, I've recovered fully. I'm heading out to try and locate the enemy, so we may not see each other for a short while. Take this chip, and pass it on to my half-brother.' There's data attached... Z-Saber?"

"I haven't heard of that before. What's the rarity?"

"Five stars! Wow, this must be something." Commented Ethan. "Alias, I guess this is yours then."

"Hey, Flare can use it too." Said Alias. "Speaking of which, Flare, how are you right now?"

"I'M OK. SHEEPMAN WENT TO GET ME SOME BOOKS. THOUGH, I CAN'T TURN THE PAGES LIKE THIS..."

"I CAN READ THEM TO YOU! ALTHOUGH I'D HAVE TO SWITCH BACK."

"DON'T, YOU'RE GOOD FOR LEANING ON. SORRY I'M SUCH A BURDEN..."

"Hey, you're not a burden." Said Arthur. "You stopped TornadoMan- uh, the copy of TornadoMan. None of us could have done that so fast. And I think things are looking up, now."

"Yeah." Said Ethan.

There was quiet for a while, until Joe spoke up from a corner. "So, about Gregar... does Colonel know?"

"...No." Realised Ethan. "I'll go break the news..."

"Let me come with you." Offered Arthur.

* * *

"...Colonel, it's bad news." Said Ethan.

"What's wrong?"

"Gregar... has been captured. He's not deleted, but... We don't know anything else."

"..." Colonel sat down. "..."

"We're doing everything we can to get him back." Reassured Arthur.

Colonel nodded. Iris walked over, and sat by him. Eventually, Colonel spoke. "...He was looking forward to me meeting someone the last time we talked. Somebody called Amaterasu. I was wondering why they never called to visit yesterday."

"Amaterasu's in the country?" Asked Ethan. "...Wish I'd known that sooner. Well, this conversation might have just helped Gregar out. Thanks, Colonel!"

"..." Colonel nodded. "I... I-I'll fight too! I can help, right? I was given this sword for a reason!"

"No, you need to stay here." Said Wily. "You're 98% complete. I need to optimise your coding before you're ready for proper operation... And solve that blasted power problem!"

"But-"

"No buts. You are not ready." Said Wily. "Gregar is in capable hands."

"I'm going to go and see if I can get Amaterasu over. I'm sure she can provide a hand." Said Ethan. "And we could use some more numbers."

* * *

The rest of the day was quiet. Arthur sat down in the canteen with everyone. "So Blaze, how's everything going with SageMan?"

"It's good! We cracked almost all his memory, but we're still doing a few recent bits."

"I bet there's something important in there." Went Ethan.

"Maybe. But it could be another distraction. I hope we're not letting our guard down now."

"The end is in sight, Arthur. If we can halt Eurasia here, then bringing them down completely and getting back everyone is a stone's throw away."

"I can only hope so... With Flare out of action and Treble wanting to stay by her... We're down to ArsenalMan, Ember and Alias, in my entire circle of friends."

"Don't count Lan and Chaud out! Or Burn!" Said Blaze.

About ten minutes later, an alarm blared. "Oh, what now?!" Went Arthur. "Wait, isn't that one for an-"

"Intruder in the mainframe!" Shouted Blaze. "We'd better get in there!"

They charged through the corridors, and burst into the mainframe to see Lan operating. "I've got this under control! But there are more breaches!"

"Where?!"

"I'm not sure! search the net! MegaMan, how are things in there?"

Everyone turned. Arthur gulped. "I'm going to go get Treble, I'll guard Flare and search the area near her. Ethan, Blaze? Where can you search?"

"I'll get the labs." Said Ethan. "I know my way around there, at least."

"I'll take the main area. Burn should have the doors!"

They split up. Arthur bolted through the building until he got into the aviators room. "Treble, are you okay?!"

"YEAH, NOBODY'S COME FOR US."

"We'd better try and find the intruder."

"BUT WHAT ABOUT FLARE?"

"I'LL BE FINE, YOU CAN GO HELP."

"NO! IF YOU GOT HURT... AND THEY COULD BE AFTER YOU!"

"TREBLE, GO WITH YOUR NETOP. I CAN PROTECT MYSELF, BUT ALIAS AND YOUR FRIENDS MIGHT NEED YOU!"

Treble was torn. "..."

"Come on. We can't leave them to fight alone."

"OKAY. FLARE, DON'T YOU DARE GET HURT." Treble carefully got up, and went out of the page.

"Right, so Lan said there were breaches, so there might be more than one intruder..."

Treble suddenly stared off into the distance. "IT'S PUMPMAN! WE'D BETTER GO STOP HIM!"

Treble bounded through the area incredibly fast, paying no attention to the few navis that had to dive out of the way. And it was a good thing, too. The fight against him was going awfully.

First of all, Ember was lying on the ground, unmoving. Not deleted, but she'd clearly lost the fight big time. But Treble didn't have time to ask if she was okay, only to shield her from an incoming attack- that had been a stray one from the fight still going. PumpMan was fighting at his best, without a serious opening bug or the weariness of having gone through an entire facility before, and his curtains of water and pipework were an almost unbeatable combo. The pipes blasted jets, and PumpMan kept attacking, but there was one navi in the way.

"Blast!" Said SheepMan, as his buster was deflected by the water barrier. He dodged to the side, badly damaged himself. A stream of water should have impaled him, but he briefly turned into a cloud, before reappearing to the side. More clouds rolled on from the sides, but PumpMan's pipes were clearing them efficiently.

"Even with an elemental advantage, you're no match for me." Boomed PumpMan.

"THEN TRY ME ON FOR SIZE!" Treble slammed against the huge barrier of water, and while it would have been incredibly painful for most navis, Treble only took a relatively small amount of damage to his face. He pushed forwards.

"Thunder, in twice. Convert. Let's see him survive this."

"YOU'D ATTACK YOUR FRIENDS?!" Shouted Treble, before spewing flames over PumpMan. PumpMan was nearly deleted in one shot.

"You again." PumpMan collapsed. "...But keeping three of you busy is more than enough. By now... It's... too late!" He got up, and stamped. Fresh pipework appeared under Treble, and PumpMan launched a desperate line of water. It found it's mark, but didn't have the power to stop Treble finishing him.

SheepMan groaned. "...It had to be d-done. Fate... is... cruel."

"YOU OKAY? HOW'S EMBER? I'M NOT TOO LATE, RIGHT?"

"Barely okay. He was immune to my sleep attack... Ember should be within repair parameters."

Ember struggled. "He got me in the back. Cheap shot. Treble, hurry. They seem to be after something, and it looks like it's the key to their plans. They've thrown everything at us!"

"WHERE ELSE IS AT RISK? ALIAS MIGHT GO DOWN!"

"Use... NetGaia." Said SheepMan, collapsing. "..." Data started to leak from him. "...Oh... Looks like..."

"Treble, heal him!"

"DON'T YOU FALL APART ON ME!" Treble glowed with purple power. SheepMan gasped as if struck.

"Argh! That hurt a bit... I'll... you just go! Go!"

Treble nodded. "CHIP! SEND ME TO ALIAS!"

A panel appeared. Treble burst out to see Alias locked in battle against a navi resembling a volcano. Ethan could be heard calling. "We have him! You go ahead, they're after-"

Alias went flying, and hit the ground. Treble dived on top of him, and took a volcanic surge to the face. Alias got out from under him, G-Carving equipped and launched into an offensive. "They're after Colonel and Iris! Wily can't hold off all their forces alone!" Alias firmly stepped forwards, taking out a triangular green blade and delivering a rapid combo strike to a volcano-themed Navi.

"RIGHT!" Treble ran past them.

"Colonel and Iris..." Said Arthur. "But why would they be after them and not R or you?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Treble cam up to a row of generic navis, and swiped at them. They went flying, but they weren't deleted. Apparently of decent quality compared to the Eurasia standard. They moved forwards, all using chips. A few Guardian statues appeared, and more created RockCubes.

"They're trying to keep you out! Here's AirHockey, convert!"

Treble launched the giant drill, but to his surprise the Guardians triggered anyway. Two hundred dmamage was a lot, and he'd tripped three. He was down to two thousand health. "OUT OF MY WAY!" He crushed oen navi underfoot and ate another whole. Junk flyer knocked another one out, and then it tripped a fourth and fifth guardian. The damage was really adding up fast, but at least the way was clear. "OUCH... I'M COMING, COLONEL!"

"Not so fast!" A navi dropped from above. Etheral white armor, dual sickles... "You will not challenge my leige!"

"GhostMan?! You're in holding!"

"No, my fake self is in holding. I've been observing you all along!" Said GhostMan. "I was worried you'd catch on after TornadoMan's copy, but that was just a fake! To find the weaknesses in your defences! As have every attack we made, distractions to observe this area! All simple setup for this! Our triumph is at hand, and you won't stop it!"

"Treble, destroy him QUICK! We can't let them succeed, whatever they're doing!"

Treble lunged, but the real GhostMan was far more agile than the clone Gregar had shredded. It dodged to one side, then struck upwards with the sickle, scoring a clean blow on Treble's mouth. His health had fallen to a thousand five hundred. Treble tried to swipe, and GhostMan skirted away from the blow. He was staying back, trying to prolong the fight, not win it. That much was obvious.

"Fan. Wind Chip, Fire chip in."

GhostMan was sucked forwards, and Treble started storming him with random garbage from Junk Flyer, but GhostMan continued to put all his effort into dodging. He sunk a sickle into the Fan, and Treble was able to get a blast of fire to connect, but then the Fan was destroyed. Treble continued to attempt to chase GhostMan down, when Arthur realised.

"Drop you transformation, we need more speed! FlashBomb2, Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade! Destroy him now!"

"One strike will decide this!" Said GhostMan, holding a sickle delicately. Treble tossed the FlashBomb, and in one precise throw, GhostMan cut it out of the air. Treble rushed in to slash with the LifeSword, and GhostMan tried to attack with his remaining sickle. The blade went right through, and sent him reeling. Treble suddenly seemed to have gotten into the flow of battle, and there was a familiar spark between him and Arthur. Full Synchro.

" **Together! CBFLARE!** "

A huge feather came down and cut through GhostMan like butter. Treble might have been worn down, but GhostMan had a foot back in his grave before Flare even appeared. She opened her beak and a tremendous gust of wind swept the area in front of her copy. GhostMan was blown to dust, and that dust was tossed a thousand different ways. Treble ran past him, into the testing area.

"Colonel! Iris! Where are you?!"

"Help!"

Treble skidded around a corner. A shuriken caught him in the chest, and was clearly meant to cause a bug. It failed miserably, and Treble faced down PhantomMan. "You! What have you done with them!"

"...It's over. We win." Said PhantomMan.

"You won't leave this place intact!"

"..." PhantomMan stepped back, and disappeared.

"A link! After him!"

Treble jumped through the link, and ducked just in time to avoid a MoonBlade. PhantomMan glared. "It doesn't matter if I'm deleted anymore. My purpose is fulfilled." Treble swiped at his face, and the blow was parried by a dagger. "But! You deleted my brothers! You crippled my sister! This is no longer for my master! This is for me!" PhantomMan nimbly tried to drive his dagger into Treble, but Treble was just as quick. His claws flashed, and sparks flew as they were bounced off the dagger.

"You kidnapping coward!" Roared Treble. "By the time I'm done with you, there will be NOTHING left to recover!"

"Treble, I don't know if we can win this fight! I didn't refresh our chips and you're low on health!"

PhantomMan flicked a shuriken into Treble's shoulder. Treble shot him with his buster. PhantomMan seemed to have taken dire wounds in combat with R, but clearly... he'd won.

"BugAura in!"

PhantomMan frowned, and seemed to charge for a moment. He vanished and then used an attack Arthur had previously mistaken for a StepSword, drawing his dagger across the bubble. For once, the Aura held. Treble grabbed PhantomMan, missing the throat but angry enough to sink his claws straight into PhantomMan's chest.

"Give them back!" He lifted PhantomMan off the floor. Treble's voice was breaking. He had no tears to cry, but it was plain to Arthur. Treble had finally reached the end of his optimism.

"They're out of my hands..."

Treble started to flicker, and there was a blast of power. PhantomMan cried out in pain, but then suddenly Treble stopped, and slumped, out of energy. He drew his hand back, and PhantomMan scrambled away. "Get... get back here..."

PhantomMan logged out.

Treble sunk to the floor. "NO!"

* * *

"It's a disaster." Said Chaud. "Eurasia has clearly gathered everything they need for their masterplan, and that attack..."

"Nobody was deleted, right?" Said Lan.

"No. There were a few very close calls, though. Blaze, can Ember be repaired soon?"

"Most of it should be a quick fix, but there's some slight damage to her balance data. I'll have to remake it manually or she'll fall over when she uses her thrusters. So, I guess that's about a week..."

"Then get to it. Burn, what about the... unexpected help?"

"She's waiting in the aviator room. Apparently one of Ethan's allies."

"Okay. Well, for the time being we have to assume that whatever Eurasia's goal is, it may put Electopia in danger. I need you all as ready as possible, and if anything happens, priority number one is to protect innocents."

"...What can we do now?" Said Ethan. "...No matter what we try, Eurasia just seems one step ahead."

"We mustn't give up." Said Blaze

"Wasn't saying we should."

"We need a plan, that's what you're saying? I agree." Said Arthur. "...Well, I guess that's where the problem is. We're out of information. If only we knew what they would do next..."

"I do." Everyone in the room turned to look at Wily. "If they took the Colonel and Iris systems, specifically targeting them, then it stands to reason they're going to use them for something. Gah, the more I think about it the more it makes sense... Yes... Hmm... well, this is just a hypothesis, but they've succeeded where I failed, by being very unethical- like I normally am when I make things work."

"Explain?"

"They've found a suitable power source for the systems in Gregar and Beta, and likely Nebula Gray." Said Wily. "All along, the one thing I couldn't do was find a power source. I couldn't code anything powerful enough, I couldn't find anything powerful enough. But the superprograms might cut it."

"Assuming they can make Colonel and Iris do what they want, what can they do?"

"Colonel is an attack system. He was designed to hunt down criminals by appearing anywhere on the net as long as his main body was intact. Needless to say, in the wrong hands he'd be an unstoppable assassin. But Iris is far worse- She was designed to protect navis that were on the net, by repairing damages and pacifying attackers through the program control functionality she had."

"...What does that mean we're up against?" Said Blaze.

"An endless number of Colonels, and mass mind control, if I'm right. You'd better hope I'm not."

"Colonel will fight back. Iris too." Said Ethan.

"Okay, I know what to do." Chaud announced. "Lan, I want you to work with Wily on some method of immunity to Iris' control. Everyone else, we're going to have to trace wherever Colonel or Iris acts from, something like that couldn't be hidden."

"But then they will already have attacked..." Said Arthur.

"We don't have a better option."

* * *

Waiting was hellish. Arthur looked at Treble. "I hope Lan comes through... or maybe you'll be immune to Iris. Or she won't have enough power, or... something. Anything!"

"It's no use." Treble looked over to Flare. "...Flare, I should have listened. Maybe with the extra few seconds everything would have been different, again."

"I... DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. YOU SAY THEY'RE GOING TO USE IRIS TO CONTROL EVERYONE?"

"I don't know about everyone. Even Gregar's power would be spread too thin to affect everyone, right?"

"WELL, I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU RESIST THAT. I'M IRIS TOO."

"...What are you saying? You can nullify it?"

Falzar spoke, oddly. She'd been silent for so long Arthur had forgotten her. "She can. But while she's like this, I don't know if she could successfully protect anyone."

"...I KNOW. BUT I NEED TO TRY."

Arthur sent Treble in.

Flare focused. "...I THINK... I CAN DO THIS!" She glowed orange for a few moments, and then Treble flashed once. "YES! THAT OUGHT TO PROTECT YOU FOR A BIT. SEND EVERYONE OVER, IT'LL TAKE A WHILE BUT I CAN DO THIS!" She seemed to be breathing heavily.

"Flare, you're exhausted! You might damage yourself if you do anyone else!" Said Treble.

"MegaMan can probably resist it on his own." Added Falzar. "His unique code should protect him. I have no small measure of power in here. I'll protect some navis."

"You're helping us?" Said Ethan. "Well, I won't complain, but why the change of heart?"

"Gregar is my enemy." Said Falzar. "And it looks like you're against him."

* * *

"These blessings help, but we're so low on numbers now..." Said Arthur.

"I feel like Flare's by my side, though." Treble seemed a little less crushed. "I can face what happens next."

"We have activity!" Said Denny. "Front gate, go!"

Everyone jacked in immediately. Of the initially large number of fighting navis, only Treble, Alias, ArsenalMan, SteamMan and one of Alias' friends called Amaterasu were available. They charged over to the front entrance, to see ProtoMan and MegaMan. ProtoMan was floored.

"Mind control... got me." Said ProtoMan. "But MegaMan... saved hope."

"Hope?" Said Treble.

"Things have finally gone our way again!" Beamed MegaMan. "...Sorry I had to do that to you, ProtoMan."

"I'm glad you did. I might have deleted them."

"Guys, what's going on?" Asked Treble.

"PhantomMan and LeviathWoman have surrendered. Well, more accurately... they were discarded."

"Discarded? You mean..."

"We're... he-re..." Treble turned to see PhantomMan limping forward. "...They use-d us as the first t-est. I don't know what Serges has done, but he tr-ied to delete us... after everythin-g we did for him..."

"It's... my... fault."

"Finding that document was not your fault!" LeviathWoman took out a file. "We surrender ourselves to you. If you'll protect us then you can have this."

"...Do you have any idea how many millions of people could be in danger because of you?" Said Arthur.

"Unfortunately, we do now." Said LeviathWoman. "SageMan's mail allowed us to realise what was going on in time- ugh!" She staggered. "Just a bug..."

"That's a bug I gave you." Said Treble. "Why hasn't it been removed?"

"Because they're incomplete. They have no backup data." Said ProtoMan. "We found that when we were repairing FightingMan. Eurasia was getting desperate..."

"...Do you accept our surrender? We only want to keep living. You are our only option." Said LeviathWoman.

"Yes. Hand me that document." Said MegaMan. He took it and started reading. "...This is enough to shut Euraisa down twenty times. Let's pass it onto the Wirope government right away!"

While MegaMan logged out, Treble walked forwards. He stared at PhantomMan. "I should delete you right now. You kidnapped MathMan. You took Gregar, and Beta, and even a pair of programs that are basically children! And you never questioned it!" Treble stepped closer. "Tell me why I shouldn't delete you!"

"...Becau-se you alrea-dy have. Your l-ast attack may have run out of po-w-er, but... the da-mage is beyond repair. I am a delet-ed navi walking."

"...I hate you. I've never really, truly hated anyone before, but I hate you! I wish I'd done worse!" Treble logged out in rage.

Arthur simply walked out of the room. "Oh, Treble... You're right to be angry. But not at him."

"Not at him?! He's taken so much from me!"

"...He only knew how to follow orders. The one who gave those orders is the one responsible. He's the one who's caused all this."

"Every time I think of him, I just feel so angry. I was trying to delete him HOURS ago! Just hours!"

"Who wouldn't be angry? It might even be a trick, we'll have to keep an eye on them. If it is... well, I'm sure you'll give him what he deserves."

* * *

"...I see." Everyone was in front a video call, Chaud at the front of the group. On the other end was the Prime Minister of Wirope. "...We have suspected it for some time, especially as Sir Lane insisted he was innocent at every point. We'll move in immediately."

"Thank you, sir."

The call ended.

"It's not going to work." Said Wily. "All their tech is linked to the net. If the Iris system comes online then Morgan will have a personal army."

"Hopefully they can act fast..."

Arthur continued to think. Thoughts swirled in his head. Wily was right. The Wirope army was likely to fail. They needed the ability to invade Eurasia if they did. Their current four navis wouldn't work. And even then there would be the matter of more Eurasia navis, or...

"Thinking about something?" Said Joe.

"...Yeah. We need more firepower, in case Wirope's police or army or whatever fails. I want a plan to invade so as soon as things go wrong, we're ready. So I need firepower, and I need the Eurasia security layout, and... I guess I need to know how to disable those systems."

"Well, don't count us out." Said William. "Joe, any ideas for Arthur?"

"Bass." Joe said immediately. "He's got the most firepower on the net."

"But how are we going to convince him to join us?" Said Arthur.

"I can do it!" Went Treble. "Trill wants revenge. Bass is friends with Trill... So maybe... Maybe he can just... ignore you?"

"And the security layout is an easy request." Said Denny, joining in. "Good thing you saved SheepMan."

"Disabling any program is pretty simple. Just reduce their strength to none, and knock them out. Then you csn make modifications, like splitting them." Said William.

"Well, it looks like I have my work cut out. I'll go for SheepMan first, then Bass. Then it's a matter of getting as many allied navis as I can..."

"Both I and ArsenalMan are at your service." Said William. "Looks like it's time to get work done."

 **Author's notes: Something about this chapter feels wrong to me (like too much happened?) but I can't put my finger on it. Either way, get ready!**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : She's had the BassAnomaly for quite a while, actually! That one chip that can wreck anything you point it at. Normally I'm all for crazy stuff over the designs you might see in life, but why are there no railings in sky town, with machines designed to blow people off? That's taking it a step beyond.**


	43. Chapter 43: Darkness

It was getting late, but Arthur made his way over to the aviators room once more. "Flare, have you seen SheepMan anywhere?"

"HE'S HERE. HE SEEMS TO BE QUITE BUGGED..."

"And we know why." Added Falzar.

"Hey, I saved his life."

"After ruining it in the first place..." Muttered Falzar.

"I- ah- what do you need? I could use some repairs first, but I do owe you my life... again." Said SheepMan begrudgingly.

"Well, I want to make a backup plan in case everything falls apart. All I want to know from you is how I'd go about breaking through Eurasia security with like... five navis."

"Just use this." SheepMan took out a small bit of code. "I don't want it anymore anyway." He attached it to a bit of mail and hit send.

"Woah! This is a Eurasia ID pass! With this, we don't even need to worry about most security." Said Treble. "Thanks SheepMan!"

"Yes, that's a big help. I'll go and get someone to repair you now. I can trust you'll keep Flare safe?"

"With everything I have."

"Heyyy, Arthur? Can I keep Flare company while you get eveything in order?"

"Go ahead, attacks seem likely if Wily is right. So safety in numbers."

"I... uh, I was just going to relax a bit after all this mess, but you're right. Flare, you're safe with me!"

* * *

"So Chaud, SheepMan gave me this. I think it might make a difference."

"Excellent. ProtoMan's out of action, but with the navis that are protected, then you ought to be able to launch a quick strike when- if Wirope's forces fail." Chaud stuttered for a second.

"You don't have high hopes, I take it?"

"They took control of ProtoMan like it was nothing, mere hours after Colonel and Iris were kidnapped. It's clear to me that Wily was both completely right and that Eurasia have been planning this for a long time."

"...Guess it's a good thing I have a contingency plan in the works. I'll tell you about it when I've got all the pieces in place, you can probably refine it. Are any people that can do coding repairs available? I need someone debugged."

"Yuichiro is double-checking MegaMan will be unaffected by the mind control, and Wily is repairing his navi. Regal is attempting to stabilize PhantomMan, and Cossack went to try and find a way to get Ember back online quickly... That's all our major people. I'll do it, I could use the break from dealing with the constant bad news. Avaitors room, right?"

"Yeah. I've practically started living in there."

* * *

"Okay, time for our... more far-fetched idea." Said Arthur. "Are you ready?"

"Of course! We're basically friends at this point!"

"Treble, Bass wouldn't hesitate to delete you, or to kill me given the chance. I normally wouldn't dare turn to him, but right now we're desperate."

"You worry too much. I'll be honest, Bass is one of the last sources of hope I can think of. I have to believe that he'll help, because otherwise... well... even if I'm strong enough to win, I'll need to be the very strongest ever if I want to make sure everyone around stays safe."

"...You're not afraid strength won't be enough?"

"It isn't." Treble stated. "But... I think that maybe you have enough of a mind to do this."

"Thanks. Guess we'd better not waste time. It's been like an hour, Wirope is probably falling flat."

Treble started running through the net. "Feels good to be free to roam again!"

"Eurasia might still have more operatives. Don't let your guard down."

"Nah, they threw everything at us in the last fight." Treble kept running, through the vast net. Arthur watched carefully.

"I ought to find out more about Nebula Gray. I read the declassified files, but there's a lot I don't know, and that DarkPower that apparently comes from him... Well, it's supposed to be very harmful. And you ate a navi who was using it."

"I don't feel any different after eating him. Although I kind of regret not paying more attention when I did. I was so angry I didn't notice what he tasted like."

"Let me know if you feel any different, okay?"

"Okay. Ooh, there's the Undernet entrance!"

"...Only you could be excited at the prospect of going for a trip through the Undernet."

It was almost instinctive, finding the way to Bass' page. Treble knew the little lattice of pathways better than some of the ones around Copperhill area. He went up to the security cube and gave the buzzer a jab. "Bass! It's me, Treble." No answer.

"...I hope he's not out."

Treble suddenly spun, and brought his claws up to parry a sword. Bass frowned less harshly than normal. "...Acceptable."

"Hey there!" Treble took his hands off the blade, briefly inspecting them for damage. "We need a favour!"

"...What, and why. I don't spare time lightly."

"I was wondering if you would help us attack this place called Eurasia. You could be, like, our trump card if everything goes wrong."

"..."

Arthur filled in the why. "Our allies are all either out of action, or badly damaged. While we could press the attack regardless, I don't want to send them into an unwinnable battle."

"I know you probably don't want to work with anyone allied with humans, but if you just turned up once, when we need you most, you won't even have to acknowledge them, right?"

"...Did you say, Euraisa?" Said Bass, slowly. He clicked his fingers. Another portal opened next to him, and Crescendo jumped out. "Explain that to him."

"We're going up against Eurasia. They've kidnapped two systems, Colonel and Iris, and they're planning to use them... well, we're not sure to what ends exactly, but one is an unstoppable killing machine and the other has mind control."

"...That system is not unstoppable. Where is Gregar?" Asked Crescendo.

"He... he got taken, too. He went off to an exposed area and had a battle with Alpha, which left him really weak."

"Well, I'm siding with you. I can't find out who ordered my kidnapping, but they've done it at least four more times- and that's enough."

"Wait, do you know something about Gregar?" Said Arthur.

Crescendo nodded. "We've fought this Colonel a few times today. Every time either of us deletes it, it returns. Even my erasure attacks won't keep it down- since it's just a copy each time. Anyway, those copies... Bass recognized the power fuelling them as Gregar's alongside this power he called DarkPower."

"So they are using him as a power source... Bass, will you join us too?" Asked Treble hopefully. "Maybe with your strength, things will be easier?"

"No. I'm nobody's to command. Crescendo, you may act as you wish." Bass vanished, ending the conversation.

"...Well, having you here is pretty helpful!" Said Treble.

"Wirope will probably need us soon, so take this time to prepare yourself. I'll go and check on my other allies." Said Arthur. "Back, Treble."

"Hold on! How are you guys exempt from the mind control? You don't have Flare's protection!"

"Bass' Get Ability system protects him. And he was able to keep me sane, too."

* * *

Arthur looked at the assembled NetOps, Chaud included. "So, Ethan, William, Burn. You guys are basically my team here. This is my plan: We can't NetGaia directly into Eurasia, but thankfully Ethan gave it coverage of this one place in Choina that will let us take a few intercontinental warps to sneak up on Eurasia. Eurasia is likely to try and attack with the Wirope army and the Colonel system once they catch onto us, so we have to move quickly."

"Wait a moment!" Blaze came in, pulling someone along. "Just because Ember can't go with you doesn't mean I'll stop helping! Lan, do what Arthur says, he gives good orders."

Lan walked into the room. "Me and MegaMan are here to help."

Arthur grinned. "That's like having a thousand extra navis! So, the plan is pretty simple at first. Once we get to the Eurasia area, we can physically just block the army from getting in by using Sanctuary and LifeAura on SteamMan. I have an ID that can definitely get the first few sets of doors open, and we can force later ones if need be."

"I don't have LifeAura." Said Burn.

"I do. Here." Offered Lan.

"They'll NorthWind it eventually, but everything should be over by then. Problem two is the Colonel System. There's no way to stop it until we take it out where it's placed. So we need dedicated fighters to counter it- That will be Crescendo and Amaterasu- neither need chips to fight well. That leaves Treble, Alias, ArsenalMan and MegaMan. Between those four, then we should be able to get to the heart of the Eurasia area and shut down the systems, since Eurasia will be low on defences for the moment, considering that everyone I've spoken to says that attack on us was truly all-out."

"...What if this goes wrong? What if they get past SteamMan, or Amaterasu goes down, or the systems can't be stopped?"

"Then Eurasia is going to control the world. This whole thing was a pretty effective world domination scheme, if I'm honest. We have to win."

"So what now?"

"Let's assemble our navis, and make sure they all know what to do."

* * *

Chaud's PET beeped. "Well, surprising absolutely nobody, Wirope's army is now completely neutralized. And we have our culprit- Morgan, the head of Eurasia, just demanded total and unconditional surrender of the net to him. On the plus side, it looks like he hasn't optimised the stolen systems, or they're fighting against his commands, since the army is often paralysing itself."

"Can they just go into the institute themselves?" Asked Arthur. "If the ground forces can just capture Morgan then we don't need to worry."

"No. He's got a lot of automated security. It's time, we'll use your backup plan." Said Chaud. "...Just this once, I'll give you command, so to speak- it is your plan. Give the word."

"Okay, but first, just an afterthought- Denny, Joe, Blaze. I want you three to try and analyse the situations everyone gets in. Falling back to avoid deletion isn't something I'm hoping for, but... well, there's a lot that can go wrong, and if we fail then we'll need everyone alive to try again at some point."

"Gotcha." Said Denny, nodding. "Any other addendums?"

"No. So, everybody, jack in. It's time."

Treble appeared, with the navis Arthur had mustered by his side. He looked at Crescendo and Amaterasu, the solo navis. "You guys got the plan, right?"

"Yes. I'll keep Colonel off you." Said Amaterasu.

"Okay, then... Chip, take us to the Choina village!" A white panel appeared, and everyone went through. Treble looked to Amaterasua. "You know the way, right?"

"I live here." Replied Amaterasu. "...You're lucky Ethan came to visit my town so recently, or NetGaia wouldn't have a connection. Follow me, everyone. There's a warp this way."

The net seemed eerily empty. Word of Morgan's bid for control had clearly prompted most operators to jack out, and the viruses, even the viruses seemed to be living in fear- impressive for programs with no minds.

"It's like a ghost town." Commented Alias.

"Hey, does anyone feel that sensation?" Said ArsenalMan. "...I think Morgan might be trying to take control. Let's hope Falzar's blessing holds up."

"Yeah, it's like needles all over my body..."

"Even I can feel it." Said Treble.

"Here's the warp. Once we go through, we'll be in the Wirope net, so their army will collapse onto us as soon as we're found." Warned Amaterasu.

"We will have to be stealthy." Said Crescendo. "If we're detected, do we flee or press on?"

"...We press on if we can make it to Eurasia before Morgan gets enough time to move the army into our way. Otherwise, we abandon this and... I'll find some other way." Said Arthur. "There's no sense in throwing your lives away."

They went onwards, continuing to move. They saw a few scattered lots of soldier navis, but it seemed that while they had been forced to obey Morgan, they hadn't been forced to obey him with any modicum of intellect, searching in robotic, simple patterns. ArsenalMan went commando, and slipped ahead to scout. He didn't have true invisibility, but William's attempt at active camouflage wasn't terrible, and let his navi relay invaluable information back to the rest of the group. Invis chips were used more than once, especially on SteamMan, but they went ever further into Wirope. The net grew desolate again.

"...No soldiers, no Mr. Progs, not even viruses..." Whispered Burn. "...It all seems so wrong."

"I guess Morgan didn't want anyone to be near enough to attack if anything went bad for him." Said Ethan. "And that's why you need people you can trust."

"...Be on guard, navis. The Colonel system might detect you, so move quickly and quietly." Instructed Arthur. "Treble, are we close?"

"We're just at the edge of the net that's for Wirope Central. I recognise that bit!" Whispered Treble.

They went onwards. While seeing a bit of net that just connected major places being barren was creepy, being in a city, somewhere that ought to have been bustling with navis, and seeing that same desolation was downright nerve-wracking. Treble noticed the chip emporium he'd bought BugAura from on the right. Not a single person inside. The arena next to it was just a large meaningless space without anyone there to man it.

"...The labs are ahead." Said Crescendo. "I recognise the feel of them."

"Everyone, are you ready?" Sadi Arthur. "Time for stage two."

The navis approached the labs. There was a large barrier in the way, followed by a warp pad, as Arthur had remembered. Treble waved the ID at the barrier, and it opened. Everyone filed in, SteamMan last.

"Sanctuary." Said Ethan, giving the chip to Alias. A patch of the floor was turning to shining white-gold panels.

"LifeAura." Said Burn, as the golden glow protected SteamMan. "Well, let's hope they can't do 400 damage at will."

"We're against the clock now! Go go go!" Said Arthur.

They went through the link.

* * *

The first thing Treble did in the Eurasia area was parry a sword. He stepped out of the link as a glowing green copy of Colonel swung its saber at Treble's face. Treble shoved it away, and slashed at a chink in Colonel's guard, causing it to dissipate. "Well."

"Looks like it only has Colonel's combat skills, thankfully." Said Arthur. "But it'll be back in moments. Everyone on guard."

As Arthur warned, the green energy was already reforming. Alias frowned. "That's Gregar's power, all right. But there's something wrong with it. It's... malevolent."

"DarkPower. It must have something to do with how they're controlling them, too..."

Amaterasu took a step forwards and drew a sword, electricity sparking around the blade. She jumped up, and made a quick overhead strike, knocking the Colonel image's guard open for Crescendo to shoot it with his buster. The image was erased, but almost instantly another one took its place. "We'll keep the Colonel system occupied." Said Amaterasu, switching to a buster with a little snowflake effect surrounding the barrel. The shots from it all turned into little icicles where they hit. "Come on, Gregar. Show me who's boss." She taunted.

"Alright, but be safe!" Called Treble. "Everyone, let's go!"

They passed through security gates. There were some automated defences, but MegaMan took them apart with such skill Arthur wondered if he'd done it before. It was a straight shot to reach the centre of the area, but things could never have been that simple.

"...I sense DarkPower. A lot of it!" Announced MegaMan.

"How very perceptive!" Announced a voice, from all around.

"Show yourself!" Shouted Alias.

There was a whoosh, and a shadow coaleseced into a navi in front of the party. "Ah, some guests. You must be Gregar's little buddy! I can't wait to see the look on what's left of him when I feed him your data. And MegaMan, it's always so good to see the one who accidentally spared me. If I'm honest, everything that's happened here is your fault!"

Arthur looked at the navi. Their body was roiling black fire, with red gauntlets and a mask. Chains seemed to weave through the whole being. And more disturbingly, his boots and shoulderpads... Arthur could swear there were faces moving within them. But now wasn't the time.

"Out of the way or we'll delete you. One warning is all you get!"

"Alas, I'm too important to handle this myself." Said Nebula Gray. "You worthless maggots will still be deleted here, in fear and emotional agony, feeding me for the time to come." He clapped his hands together. "Allow me to give you some new playmates... Or rather, old ones."

More shadows rose up from the floor, taking shape. Treble suddenly froze. "No... It can't be..."

Yellow armour, and a light-blue suit. Black cables and an electrical socket. Nebula Grey grinned, a wide, warm and geniunely happy grin. "But it is! Can you do it? Can you even begin to attack them? Oh, I'm looking forwards to this!"

Joe's breath caught. "...What have they done to you?"

MathManDS didn't respond, only raising his sword. PlugMan stood next to him, barely different but radiating evil intent.

"...That's low, you coward!" Shouted Treble.

"Stop, you'll make me blush!" Responded Nebula Gray. "Ahh, I can hear your dying throes already..."

MathMan swung his sword forwards, and CommandoMan intercepted. "Unacceptable. Treble, keep pushing forwards!"

"I'll fight too! You think I'm just going to let you use Treble's friends against him?" Said Alias, dodging a wire whip. "MegaMan, get after Nebula Gray!"

Treble was already charging for the dark navi, but as he struck his claws passed right through, finding only air.

"Ah, astral projection. Truly, the best of skills. I'm waiting for you two..."

"Treble, go on! We have to trust in our allies." Said Arthur.

* * *

As Treble ran forwards, Arthur looked over to Ethan's screen. The fight was dangerously equal.

Alias slid under a wire whip and threw himself upwards, shooting a HyperBurst down at PlugMan, only to be sliced out of the air by MathManDS. Before he could even hit the ground, CommandoMan used a smart bomb to knock MathMan back, and fired his buster at PlugMan. Alias was on his feet in seconds, and activated the F-Carving, flying upwards as Ethan sent LifeSword.

PlugMan didn't react at all, and crackled with electrical power for a moment before a thunderbolt leapt from him to Alias, wasting the LifeSword. Alias responded by dropping into a nosedive, and U-turning at the very last second to deliver a close-quarters strike, while CommandoMan kept on dueling MathMan- and losing. MathMan's blade was a flash of purple-black, every strike calculated and cold. CommandoMan tried to dodge, to fight back, but it wasn't working. Then Alias leapt in, and raised a Reflector just in the nick of time, letting CommandoMan get a smart bomb off and breifly turn the tide, before PlugMan managed to solidly lash Alias in the back, paralysing him.

CommandoMan took his turn to save the fight, this time with one well-aimed TankCannon buying Alias just a moment. Ethan sent CornFiesta, as Alias stood back-to-back with CommandoMan, aiming carefully. MathMan jumped forwards, and Alias fired just an instant too late, the Zero Divider going right through him AND CommandoMan. But navis don't have organs to worry about. The CornFiesta hit at point blank, the explosion of greenery engulfing both Alias and MathMan. CommandoMan knelt, warding PlugMan back with buster fire, as Alias kicked MathMan back. They were almost overwhelmed already, Alias badly weakened by his own advance... There wasn't much hope.

"Ethan. Take this." Said William, very clearly. He passed Ethan a chip. "ArsenalMan, use the final strategy."

"Yes sir." CommandoMan turned back to ArsenalMan in the blink of an eye, sacrificing mobility for pure, unadulterated firepower. He jumped into the air, AirShoes giving him a vantage point. Alias flipped into the G-carving, instinctively dashing out of the way of whatever ArsenalMan was about to unleash. In one instant, every weapon on his body discharged, raining destruction from the skies. MathMan dodged out of the way, but PlugMan bore the brunt of the impact, his form nearly ripped apart. ArsenalMan dropped out of the sky, and tackled him, flashing briefly. "This is the end!"

"He's..." Arthur was cut short by the blast. The smoke was blown away by Alias, still fighting MathMan, to show... ArsenalMan. Damaged down to one health, but alive.

"Undershirt, boy." Said William, feeding in a Recover150. "Hang back and give ranged support, you're too weak to go close."

Alias was tired, but he still kept up a blaze of attacks. He drove himself onwards, throwing chips at MathMan even as emulating Gregar sapped his strength. He jumped forwards, and hit his limit, the carving flickering. He gritted his teeth and went into a BeastOver- it should have been impossible, but for a few more seconds Alias continued his furious assault, and MathMan started to lose ground until Alias suddenly cried out as his carving failed, energy depleted. MathMan made a giant, wide swing that sent him down, and raised the Pi gun.

"Stop!" Said Joe. "MathMan, stop it! Just STOP!"

MathMan flinched, for just one moment. Alias got up, as Ethan sent a chip. "Break free!" Shouted Alias, as he unleashed his attack. GSTreble appeared behind him, and before MathMan could evade four short sharp bursts of elemental breath caught him, leaving him on the floor, data starting to collapse.

"How do we purge the darkness?" Asked Joe.

"...With... all... I... AM!" Replied MathMan. He was still the same visually, but he seemed to force himself to a kneeling position. "Your logical soul resonates with me! And logically, I can destroy the darkness... like any other data!" He lifted his sword, and stabbed it through his own chest. He wasn't deleted instantly. There was a huge crackle, and his body was breifly cloaked in blackness, before it disappeared, leaving MathMan on the floor dissolving. "I'll... return... come back for me... Joe..."

Alias sighed. "...We should have saved them."

"You did. Death isn't the end for navis." Reassured Joe.

"..." Denny just grimaced. "Most navis. But that's neither here nor there. You ought to jack out. Your navis are totally exhausted, they can't do more."

"Alright." Said Ethan. "Arthur, it's up to you now."

* * *

Treble and MegaMan entered the innermost area. "...I sensed the systems here, but where are they?" Said Treble.

"I don't know." Said MegaMan. "Lan, any ideas?"

"Allow me to explain the totality of your defeat." Said Nebula Gray, reappearing with his twisted grin. "The systems are not on the main net. We simply linked them to it via a strong broadcasting device. Even if this place fell- unlikely as I thought it- you can't touch the systems, because they're in Morgan's personal server, in his office. Now the main force that would oppose us is here with me, in an area locked from jacking out. Time for some revenge..."

"You think you can beat me when I have a friend by my side?" Said MegaMan.

"Major operation, set!" Said Lan.

"Execute!"

"Treble destroy! Leave nothing!"

"You are... so comically defiant..." Said Nebula Gray. Shadows formed all around him. "I may not have my full self, but that's more than enough when I have the darkness within your hearts!"

Treble felt a ripping sensation, like the breath being sucked out of him. Suddenly, he was faced with himself. "...Your copies are pathetic. We'll take all three of you on!"

MegaMan opened the fight with Sanctuary. MegaManDS seemed the weakest of the DarkSouls, perhaps due to MegaMan having had a long time to neutralise the darkness within himself. Treble had no time to react as he locked claws with himself. TrebleDS snarled ferociously. Treble responded in kind.

"RedFruit3, Doublepoint, SuperVulcan, Attack plus thirty, Attack plus ten." Said Lan. "Want to see what happens when we try?"

A small golden apple appeared in MegaMan's hand, and he took a single bite, causing it to disappear. Doublepoint activated, and for just a second MegaManDS looked terrified. "I know all your tricks by now!" Said MegaMan, and with one expert flick, predicted where his DarkSoul would move to, and blasted it to bits, not five seconds into the fight.

"Well, that was three MegaChips." Said Lan.

"Reflector3, VariableSword, ElementBreath. Up Right down." Said Arthur.

TrebleDS tried to use his breath attack, but it was thrown back in his face by the reflector. Treble slashed his copy as hard as he could and followed through perfectly with the VariableSword. TrebleDS responded in kind by summoning a purple ball of thunder, and launching it. Treble outran it easily, and fired his tail buster over and over, as the DarkThunder didn't stop chasing. Treble closed the gap, and stopped short of TrebleDS as it swiped and missed, taking the ElementBreath in the face. It flickered, and a few meteors came down, smashing through the floor.

"We have to get it out of the way, MegaMan needs a hand!" Arthur watched as a swarm of flickering hands grabbed at MegaMan, a few hitting him and latching on. Losing three GigaChips had put him at a disadvantage, and there was no time to use HubBatch. Still, in TenguCross the floor damage wasn't bothering him, and he was holding his own.

"Take these." Joe passed Arthur five chips.

"Rockcube, in FOUR times! Poltergeist!" Said Arthur, feeding in the devastating combination.

TrebleDS's claw attack was stopped dead against a stone. It tried to get around and another one blocked the way. It jumped up on top of it, only to see Treble summoning another two. Treble growled as all four levitated. "Take this!" The four stones slammed into Treble's DarkSoul, flattening it and destroying it. Treble ran to help MegaMan. Nebula Gray sent a wave of black fire for Treble, and he jumped it, slashing with claws at the darkness. His hand stuck.

"The blue flame is the weak point!" Said MegaMan, shooting an M-Cannon into the orb to prove his point.

"GRAAHH! YOU... WILL... DIE HERE!" Nebula Gray fired a huge dark dragon, the floor shattering. Treble ripped his hand out, and jumped away as MegaMan charged a shot. But then Nebula Gray lunged forwards, and grabbed him in one hand. "I'LL CORRUPT YOUR SPIRIT FOREVER! YOU WILL NOT RETURN!"

"No, you won't!" Said another voice. Treble turned to see Crescendo, damaged all over. "I knew I'd be needed..."

"YOU..."

"Not so confident now you can be erased forever, huh?" Said Crescendo.

"Let him go!" Shouted Treble, trying to attack the arm.

"We have to end this now... FolderBack!" Said Arthur.

As fast as he could, Treble created more RockCubes, dodging a desperate shot of chasing fire from Nebula Gray. "You're finished!" The stones levitated, and cascaded into Nebula Gray. Eight hundred more damage was finally enough, and Nebula Gray dropped MegaMan. Crescendo levelled his buster and shot once.

"No... NO!" Nebula Gray clutched at his chest. "I can't be deleted!"

"You already are." Said Crescendo. "No better than you deserve."

"FAR better." Nebula Gray looked Treble in the eyes. "I tortured him, you know. Every moment- I relished telling him how I deleted Alias, how Flare jumped in the way of an attack meant for you, but it wasn't enough... I spent days crafting copies of your emblems- ugh- to prove you were dead... I... curse you, with my last moments... darkness take YOU!" He shot a fire blast. Treble tried to duck, and it curved around, about to hit his head.

MegaMan stepped forwards and punched it out of the air. "...You're cursing nobody."

Nebula Gray was gone.

Treble sat in silence for a moment. "...What now? He said the server was in the real world, and Amaterasu must be fighting the Colonel system alone now!"

"She's fine." Said Crescendo. "...There must be a way to access that place Morgan hides in."

"...I don't think there is." Said Chaud. "We've lost..."

"No. I refuse to accept this was all for nothing." Said Arthur. "I will never give up until I'm dead. I just need to think..." So he sat and thought. He tried his hardest to zone out everything, the rising hubbub as people murmured, wondered if it was the end. He went through every resource he could think of methodically, until he could find one bit of useful information, trying to answer his question: Can someone get to that server? And as if by divine intervention, one thought leapt into Arthur's head, unbidden. "We have one chance." He said, urgently. "...Chaud, you're going to hate this, but it's my only choice, and I'm making it of my own free will, so you are not responsible. Leave the room if you don't want to hear it."

"I'm listening."

"Eurasia has a copybot." Said Arthur. "Wily, you didn't take that chair apart yet, did you?"

"What are you- You're going to try and put yourself in a CopyBot?!" Said Wily. "Genius!"

"What the- you could die, Arthur! If the CopyBot were to be lost, or-" Started Chaud.

"It's my choice. It's either me or Lan that will have to do this, and I might not make it out anyway, so we CAN'T send Lan- he's the future of this country. I'll get in their copybot, get a PET out of their electronics department, and take Treble up to the server. We can stop the systems there!"

"What about your chips? And that the PET won't be able to hold Treble?" Said Chaud.

"You can transfer them across the net while we set up a link to get me into Eurasia. I'll get the PET from the labs, because they have custom memories in there I should be able to squeeze Treble into one."

"...This is too dangerous, there has to be another way!" Said Treble.

"But there isn't." Said Arthur. "This is the last chance."

 **Author's notes: You thought this was the last battle, right? Sike! Nebula Gray's navi form was the pre-final boss. I've exhausted my hands, so next chapter might be a few days.  
**

 **No reviews...**


	44. Chapter 44: Shatter

"Okay, we ought to set up the link and find the copybot access point first" Said Burn. "...I'm not really that happy with you risking your life, but you're right. This is the only way to end things here and now."

"Okay. Ethan, you're the link expert."

"Already done it." Said Lan. "And... please be safe, Arthur. I barely know you, but I'd love to be friends with you, too."

"...Thanks." Arthur smiled a bit at how genuine Lan was. "Well, if you guys could find the access point, I'll go and get into the net."

"One more thing!" Said Lan. "Does anyone here have some BugFrags? I have three..."

"Uh, four here." Said Blaze.

"Two." Said Joe.

"Seventeen." Said Chaud. "...Why?"

"Can you send those to Treble? It should get his health to hit the maximum." Said Lan. "It's close, right?"

"Yeah, that should be enough." Said Arthur. "Thanks, this might make all the difference."

"Woo!" Treble cheered as a small pile of BugFrags appeared in front of him. He started stuffing himself, then stopped. "...Huh, I feel... weird."

"...No chip?" Questioned Arthur.

"No, I can't feel anything stuck in my throat. I feel like I've completed something important, though." Said Treble. "Check my readouts before you go?"

Arthur opened the menus. "...I don't see anything different... Oh, wait a moment. There's an error message here. File missing... which file..."

"Ah! I've got it! I know what this did!" Said Treble. He held his hands close to his chest for a moment, and held them up before transforming. "TADAA!"

"...Okay, now _that's_ a useful little skill. You can do that without my help now?" Asked Arthur.

"YEAH!" Treble shrunk back. "At will! I guess I'm complete!"

"That's wonderful, now we have a lot more flexibility for which Giga chip we choose. So... what will be most helpful? I'm leaning towards BlackBarrier."

"FolderBack might be nice too! Or maybe Flare will help break Gregar free?"

"...We'll start transferring the rest of your folder now, while you make up your mind." Said Chaud. Arthur handed him his chips, and set his five Giga chips out in front of himself.

"Well, BugRiseSword is really great for damage, but I imagine this'll be an attrition battle given how durable Gregar and Beta are, so the life drain means it's out. FolderBack is really useful too, but they might adapt before we can re-cast an attack. Flare... hmm... the piercing is really nice, but the damage is somewhat low for a Giga chip... BugCharge leaves you too vulnerable while it sets up, and the channel too. So... Yeah, BlackBarrier is the correct choice. If they have NorthWind I'll bait it out with BugAura."

"Okay." Said Chaud. "Now remember, don't get too close to your navi while you're in the net, take the most direct route you can."

"Will do. Wish me luck, everyone. It's been an honour knowing you all."

"Hey, you make it sound like you're not coming back!" Said Blaze. "You get back to us safe and sound, okay? We're all rooting for you."

"Good luck, Arthur." Said Joe. "Stay calm."

"I believe in you." Said Lan.

"Be safe." Said Chaud. "...Really."

"You're getting the mother of all parties when you get back." Said Ethan.

Burn smiled. "Best of luck."

William nodded. "Good luck."

Denny walked forwards. "The electronics labs are on the first floor, completed PETs that might be able to hold Treble are on the desk in the corner nearest the doors, according to the security cameras. Don't use more luck than you have to... but, good luck nonetheless."

"Roger." Said Arthur. "...Have you guys found the CopyBot port?"

"Here." Said MegaMan.

"Then..." Arthur felt fear rising inside him, and crushed it under a mental boot. "There's no time to hesitate."

* * *

Arthur stood in front of the chair. Wily was operating a small console. "R isn't fully repaired, but he should be able to serve as your bodyguard for a few moments. Link is stabilised, please jack in."

Arthur slowly sat on the chair, hoping his transition into the net would be a bit more dignified than last time. His vision threw a tantrum just like before, and he felt his stomach twist, but he didn't feel as much like death as before, and only staggered when he appeared in the net. R stood before him, LifeAura active. "...Hello there, R." Arthur felt oddly calm, even without knowing that much about R.

"Entity Detected. Unknown Classification. Mission Objective: Escort." R turned and marched in a diagonal, towards a link.

Arthur looked around, wanting to appreciate the chance to see through a navi's eyes, but he just couldn't focus on it. The matter at hand was overwhelming. Arthur stepped onto the link. His vision flashed white for a second, and then he was standing in front of MegaMan. He glanced around to be sure, and was greeted by the Eurasia logo on the background. He swallowed, and spoke. "...You probably don't have company like this often?"

"No. Come on, it's not safe here." MegaMan offered a hand, and Arthur gladly accepted. He felt oddly honoured that MegaMan would do that, even if most people would have.

"Arthur, can you hear us?" Said Chaud.

"Loud and clear, for now." Said Arthur.

"Good. Denny's managed to completely take control of their security cameras with a bit of help from Crescendo. All the staff are absent, so you have a clear shot at Morgan."

"Right. Hey... Where's Treble? I know I can't touch him, but I feel like I should take this chance to speak to him face to face, if only for a moment." Admitted Arthur.

"I'm here." Said Treble. "..." His tail wagged.

"..." Arthur smiled. "You know... I'm not sure what to say."

"Me neither. It's weird to see you here, though. I can see all these details on you the camera never picked up."

"I did always wonder just how tall you were. Now I know: More than me."

"Hehe..."

"Oh, there's the link." Said Arthur. "...I won't forget this moment."

"Me neither. So... hey, there's something I have to say now."

"Go on?"

"Arthur, hunt!"

Arthur grinned, and stepped onto the link. His vision went blank again, before slowly coming to. Streams of data were thrown at his consciousness as the CopyBot synced itself to him. Finally, with a short ditty, the OS gave him a message. 'CopyBot online. Developed by Eurasia 20XX and Scilabs 20XX. CopyBot fully charged! 20 minutes battery life remaining.'

Arthur looked around. He was behind the welcome desk. He felt truly nervous and exposed, alone, but nobody else was present, and with only 20 minutes then every second counted. He climbed straight over the desk and made a beeline for the stairs. He scaled them, trying to ignore the silent atmosphere the building had when it was empty. It was a glaring parallel to the net Morgan had created. He got to floor one, and went straight into the lab. He knew which one, even if the tour had been a blur. "Corner nearest the doors..." He whispered, turning. There was a cabinet, with five PETs lined up. A little sign identified them as the guidance examples for each grade of PET. Arthur immediately selected the one on the far right labeled 'Maximum', and hit the on button. It booted in a few seconds, displaying a blank background and a 'No navi' message. Arthur looked around for a jack-in port, and found one easily enough. "Treble, back?"

Treble appeared in the PET. "Hey there. Looks like your crazy plan is working! Ugh, it's kind of tight in here though..."

Arthur lost a bit of his nervousness. "Gotta be fast. I'm already down five minutes." He grabbed a rack of blank chips from one of the desks, and slotted five in. "...I hope this won't take long..."

It took four precious minutes to write the full folder. Arthur grabbed it and went into the corridor. "Elevator by there!" Said Treble.

Arthur stepped in and hit the button for top floor. He had no heart to pound, only feeling a mix of dread and determination. The CopyBot was... a strange existence, but he couldn't think about it. The elevator dinged, and he stepped out. It was a long corridor, with three rooms. Guest quarters, which must have been in case anyone had to sleep there, Storage, and Head office. It was an obvious choice. Arthur strode up and pushed the door open.

"Wah?!" Shouted Morgan. "How... how could someone get in here!? The city is swarming with security bots! I have cameras-"

"That's not important anymore, Morgan." Said Arthur calmly. He was looking around, trying to see a jack-in port.

"...You can't stop me, still." Said Morgan, collecting himself. "My systems have total control of Wirope. Everything I've worked for so long... I've succeeded."

Arthur noticed a busily flashing server. "...Why did you do it? Sure you could rule the world, but... well, that's a really awful job if you think about it. That much responsibility would probably kill you."

"Truthfully? The same reason people achieve anything. Because they can. I realised I could, and thus, I started trying."

"Hm. I did all this because I needed to, not because I could." Arthur spotted it. A port, on the front of the cabinet. "You forced my hand."

"...I expected you'd try and apprehend me physically, you know. Or at least... speak less civilly. Don't you resent what I've done?"

"Of course. I despise you, especially given your reasoning for making so many people suffer. But I feel like I might get something out of it if I keep cool. Treble, Hunt."

"So, you operate the Multi Bug Organism... I suppose that means the navis in there belong to your friends."

"...I would be lying if I said you didn't make this personal when you attacked them."

Morgan sighed. "I came so far... I could have had it all, yet somehow... No. My dream isn't lost yet- the systems are capable of deleting your navi. All is not lost for me."

"...I have nothing more to say to you. But tell me, what's the highest punishment in your country?"

"Life imprisonment."

"...Good. Maybe you could try and redeem yourself a bit and clear the previous head of Eurasia."

"Why are you like this?! How can you speak to me so casually?!" Cried Morgan. "I can't understand!"

 _Because I'm scared out of my mind and forcing myself to be calm._ "Treble, do you see the systems?"

* * *

"Yes." Treble looked up.

"Do you like my designs?" Said Morgan, in the same tone he'd used to show off the institute's best achievements to Arthur a few weeks ago. It seemed far more sarcastic now.

Colonel and Iris were floating about two feet off the floor, eyes closed, expressions serene, and arms at their sides. But they were barely visible inside energy fields, green and red respectively. Around those fields orbited curved pieces of data, each bearing design that all too clearly belonged to a respective superprogram. And each system had one large crest of data. Gregar's head, lightless, held the Colonel system in its mouth. Alpha's crest graced the Iris system. "What did you do to them?!"

"...Nebula Grey was eventually able to bend Gregar and Beta to my will. Then it was a simple matter of putting them into frames I already designed. Go ahead. You will make a fine example- I don't want any uprisings. Do you really think you can take them both on?"

"No."

Treble spun. He hadn't said that. Arthur hadn't said that.

"But I dare believe he could take on one of them." Said Bass, as a portal closed behind him.

"Bass... you came to help?" Said Treble, with new hope. With Bass at his side... his fear of losing evaporated. Perhaps there were others he trusted more- but there was nobody he believed would have been better.

"I will not be robbed of my duel with Gregar. And I owe it to Crescendo to shatter that human's dreams. On your mark."

"Treble... destroy Morgan's plans!"

"Vengeance for the net!" Shouted Bass, his cloak flapping.

The area shifted, as the two systems identified threats. Power arced around wildly, blasting the floors, the background, even the very atmosphere of the server. Treble's eyes shifted to pure red, and the background files gave up under the sudden blasting, slipping into a fragmented thunderstorm. The energy fields on the two systems glowed brightly, thrumming with tremendous potential.

"CornShot, FireBurn, Thunder in!"

Bass opened the fight with a split second of charging followed by his signature buster rake. A torrent of gunfire was let loose upon the Colonel system, but as it impacted the energy barrier the barrier glowed more brightly, and the small '2500' under it didn't drop. Treble was able to realise the system was protected for the moment, but experimentally fired his own buster at it a few times. Nothing happened. The system buzzed, and a huge amount of green energy appeared in front of it, rapidly morphing into a sword. It made a lightning-fast, colossal swing. Treble scooted back, just out of range, and fired again, hoping that would have drained the barrier. No such luck. Bass had other plans, and leapt into the air, forming an EarthBreaker. He slammed it down into the Colonel system, but again to no effect.

At least, no effect they could see. But Arthur had a view of the fight. "The Iris system is losing the barrier! They must protect each other!"

Treble sprinted, switching his target and firing the CornShot. It impacted with a pop, the Iris system losing a few points of health. Bass was faster, and threw a Hell'sRolling, leaving a skid mark along the floor before it crashed into it's target. Finally Treble launched the FireBurn, the overall combo having done a lot of damage. The system retaliated, and a few small white orbs materialised around the area, each one sprouting a machine gun. Bass raised his LifeAura, while Treble took a few hits. Iris's barrier regenerated, and Treble let the Thunder go.

"Colonel's barrier dropping! BugAura, Thunder in!"

Bass warped forwards, and made a smooth cut with his Darkness blade, as the Colonel System crackled before electricity boomed, leaping to Treble and Bass and then exploding, shattering the floor around them. Bass flew in and made another slash, but then the huge sword reappeared and stabbed him at point blank, his aura dissipating. Treble raised the BugAura, realising he was stuck, and another wave of machinegun fire was absorbed. "I can't move!" He looked around, trying to see somewhere to jump to. Maybe if he could have taken a run-up, but not as it was. He fired the thunder anyway, hoping it would find its mark. Bass drew back, without his aura, and the Colonel system reactivated its barrier.

"FlashBomb, CornShot, FireBurn in!"

Treble pitched the FlashBomb into the air, and Bass cast Buster rake, but the Iris system fired a huge blue shockwave, and the bomb was destroyed the moment it hit the ground. Bass' attack sprayed over the system, and Treble used the remaining chips in quick succession, before just barely dodging the Colonel system's sword.

"Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade! LifeSword! VariableSword in, Left B Right B!"

The Iris system glowed, and a tremendous laser shot forwards. Treble was safe inside the BugAura, but Bass wasn't so lucky. "The winds will rip the breath of life from you!" He shouted, and entered Falzar Bass mode. Perhaps not as strong as it was when he actually had Falzar, but he soared into the air with unhindered motion, and raised a huge cannon in the shape of Falzar's head. After just a second it fired, howling winds doing terrible damage. The floor regenerated around Treble, and he ran forwards, and slashed with the LifeSword. The Iris system was badly damaged already, and threw the barrier up again. The Colonel System didn't take kindly to this, and suddenly Bass was knocked out of the sky by a huge arrow that had been summoned, sent into a downwards fall. Treble ran forwards to help and a second arrow slammed into his aura. To his horror, it went down.

"BlackBarrier in!"

Bass fired a buster rake, doing several hundred points of damage, but the Colonel System fired another giant bolt of lightning, further damaging Treble and Bass and knocking the VariableSword out of Treble's hands. Treble was stranded again, his BlackBarrier downed just in time for the white orbs of the Iris system to fire a salvo of small missiles, crashing into him for a lot of damage. He transformed, leaping out of the ring quickly, as the barrier was switched. He swiped with his giant claws at the Iris system, and there was a blasting wave of force that lifted him straight off his feet, landing with a crash. Bass threw more Hells'Rollings, but a mirror-like screen appeared, and threw them back. Treble dived in the way, but took them with his mouth open. "WE'RE TAKING TOO MUCH DAMAGE!"

Arthut could see that. Bass had dropped from 2500 health to 1940, Treble was at 1750. "Spreaders, in three times! Convert to VanishingWorld!"

Treble started charging the attack, while Bass spun and intercepted a fireball from the Colonel system. The light reached a blazing point in Treble's throat, and he fired without any hesitation- but not in time, as the Iris system protected itself. Bass went on the offensive, firing another EarthBreaker at the Colonel system, and scoring a hit, but another salvo of missiles went off. Treble blocked what he could, taking a little damage, and Bass dodged the rest- but not the giant sword, this time swung directly down, so when he tried to fly up he only made things worse, getting swatted to the floor. Treble moved to guard him again, and was caught by a giant arrow, but thankfully the BlackBarrier saved him from the huge damage. Bass shot out from under Treble, and brought his sword up in a powerful arc, but the Colonel system just deflected it.

"AquaNeedle, AirHockey, MoonBlade in!"

Treble roared and tried to direct his passive Junk Flyer attack into the Iris system, but the mirror-like screen reappeared and bounced it back. Bass made a loop in the air, and came down holding the Falzar cannon once more, but even that couldn't break the mirror, and Bass took a scathing blow from the wondstorm, launching him back- but worse, so did Treble, his BlackBarrier being removed. He had no time to hesitate, and used the only attack he knew couldn't be deflected- his own body, and tackled the mirror. Finally it shattered, and Iris immediately raised it's barrier again, firing a missile salvo. Bass was floored, but Treble was able to block every last one with his iron skin. Colonel thrust his sword, and it sparked off Treble's cheek. He opened his mouth and blew aqua flames, finally doing some damage to the Colonel system, as Bass floated back up, apparently knocked out of Falzar mode by his attack. Treble followed up with his drill, grinding into Gregar's likeness, and Bass used Buster rake, but the Colonel system almost perfectly negated it. GS-Treble turned, diving for the Iris system with empowered claws, but they'd activated a panic mode attack. Both were invincible, and then the white orbs flattened themselves into mirrors, before a laser shot from the Iris system, bouncing around wildly on the mirrors. Bass was able to dodge, and Treble's skin held, but then the Colonel system flashed once, and the air seemed to grow heavy before with a 'SNAP', etheral jaws closed around Bass and Treble, for break damage. Treble dropped his transformation for avoidance, getting low on health.

"GregarEX, UnifyCode, FlareEX!" Arthur was starting to panic. At this rate...

Treble held himself carefully for a moment, waiting for a system to vulnerable, when suddenly both dropped their barriers and atacked in unison. Colonel shot a blast of fire, and Iris a shockwave of water. Bass phased out of existence for a moment, dodging both and getting in close to stab, but the giant sword beat him back. His health was under a thousand. Treble got past the shockwave, and was blasted to the floor by the fire, health at 670. Before the systems could do a thing, he called on the advance, hpoing with all his heart that it wouldn't get blocked; his hopes were answered as Gregar ripped into himself with an array of weaopns, while Flare took on Iris. Treble got to his feet, and ran forwards, before leaping and delivering a true strike at the Colonel system, finally doing some damage to it.

"AreaSteal, in twice!"

Treble jumped back, hoping to avoid the next onslaught of attacks. Bass spun to block it, sensing it, and a huge dragon of darkness narrowly missed him.

"As I told you..." Said Nebula Gray, covered in terrrible, likely fatal damage and radiating hatred. "I curse you... Treble..." He clenched his fists to his sides, and a torrent of dark hands sprouted from him, a few striking Bass and more latching onto Treble. Treble sunk to his knees as he felt his soul's data being attacked, fighting it off with all he had, and then another round of missiles stuck him in the back, leaving him badly weakened, and barely standing. Bass was having none of Nebula Gray's interventions, and with one, decisve lunge his Darkness blade was returned to it's home. Nebula Gray howled, dissipating, as the rest of the salvo hit Bass, who was finally too tired to keep his cloak from bearing the damage, and was left staggering, tattered.

"Please... we have to win now!" Said Treble.

Arthur was suddenly finding it hard to think. Like... like... 'Caution! Battery depleted. Initiating emergency ejection to nearest computer...' "Oh- ." There were no other words that could have expressed that feeling well enough, but they were interrupted as Arthur found himself almost launched out of the CopyBot, landing in the server roughly. His head spun, but he saw Treble fighting, Bass in the air, as the Colonel system fired one more blast of electricity, striking them both.

"Arthur, help!" Called Treble.

"It's no use." Said Morgan. "...Your plan was clever, but the CopyBot has failed you."

"Ngahhh!" Bass shouted, busters blazing in defiance until another laser from Iris sent him crashing down, barely standing. Arthur shook off the dizziness, and his heart shattered. Treble was on the floor, falling apart. His health was at ten, and he was exhausted. Bass was barely any better, a hundred health and unable to even fly any more.

"You've lost." Said Morgan. "...Delete them, systems."

Arthur was running before he knew what was happening. Colonel was charging an attack. He sprinted, he sprinted like his life depended on it, and he jumped, a good six feet in the air, and punched the system. An ordinary, human punch. The laser fired, and Arthur was aware that his chest was now missing. He fell to the ground, the rest of his body burned, but knew one thing. It had targeted him instead.

"Get ability."

There was a blast. Arthur had landed face-up, and could see Bass rising into the air once more. The health number underneath him was rising fast, and after just a few seconds ticked up to 4000. A gray aura burned around him, with a 300 at the bottom. His cloak and solid armor was restored, now in dark gray with a familiar patterm of black lines. His helmet's fins were purple on the inside, and the gem on his head shone with red light. The Iris system blasted him with a laser, and it bounced off, but the wind briefly parted Bass' cloak, revealing a dark purple jumpsuit, a tail and a familiar navi mark. "...It has been a while since I had Gospel's power..." Said Bass. "...But last time was nowhere near this... This time- we truly work in unison."

Bass held out a hand, and Arthur saw a copy of Treble's head appear over the end for a moment, before his vision was whited out, and the Colonel system was sparking. The Iris system fired a shockwave and Bass let it hit him, harmless against the aura. He held his hands out to the side and three thick claws appeared, burning with power. Bass was too fast to follow, and flashed past the Iris system leaving long grooves in the crest, before sailing high into the air, and charging an attack. He spent two seconds up there, as the systems reactivated their barriers. There was a sound like destruction, and suddenly the systems were both flashing, barriers broken by raw force.

Bass floated down, and then flashed forwards, glowing with purple energy. The systems lifted from the floor, and then there was a flash. Arthur's vision was blocked by Gregar landing in front of him, groaning. "...It's done." Said Bass. "I'd leave you all, but Treble insists... so come through the portal if you want to live."

Arthur's vision was fading... but he felt a pair of hands pick him up.

* * *

Arthur gasped for breath. "Where am I?!"

"Oh, thank goodness. We were worried you were going to die..." Said Joe. "...How do you feel?"

Arthur sat up. He was in a Scilabs server. His chest was still here. "...I feel... awful..."

"Well, not surprising considering how I had to save you." Said Gregar. "You were falling apart, so I had to use my power to stop that."

"...Right."

"Basically you might have some bugs." Admitted Gregar. "But you are alive. I didn't try to make a carving, in case you're wondering."

"My memory is blurry... where's-" Arthur gasped. "TREBLE! Where's Treble?!"

Colonel walked over. "...Arthur. He- he..."

"NO! You can't be serious! He can't be gone!"

"...Bass absorbed him." Said Gregar.

Arthur lay down, hands on his head. "No... no, no, no! I was prepared to die... But Treble should have lived! He deserved to live!"

"I know." Said Gregar. "He gave himself to Bass to save all of us."

Arthur didn't respond.

"It was the only-"

"I don't care! I just wanted him to live!"

"Arthur-" Started Joe.

"Go away. Please, please just. Go. Away."

Gregar sighed. "...He needs space." He turned and walked off. "..."

"Ar-"

"Just shut up, Joe. If you want to help make sure I'm left alone."

Joe left the room in the physical world.

Arthur lay there. Time passed, as he couldn't feel a thing, until finally the full magnitude of it hit him, and he was left sobbing. Time ticked on.

* * *

The door to the room opened. "..." Arthur didn't have the energy to speak.

"He's not deleted." Said Denny. "That absorption can be undone."

"I know." Arthur whispered. "But without the Phoenix system, Treble can't force his way out... he was nearly deleted when was absorbed anyway, he's probably barely conscious. He's gone. He's gone and it's because I wasn't strong enough."

"...About that." Said Denny. "...I have never given you false hopes, so beleive me when I say that all is not lost. We need a day to clear up a lot of things surrounding the Eurasia incident, but Lan's got everyone working together, organising to hunt down Bass."

"..." Arthur nodded.

"...So, I know I shouldn't ask you anything, but can you get back in your body? It might die of dehydration if you leave it any longer."

 **Author's notes: I am a terrible person sometimes.**

 **Reviewer answer.**

 ** _JANEVALENTINE007_ : Okay, I absolutely cannot critcise putting your AP tests over reviewing. Never feel bad because you have your priorities in order. Sometimes I understand the need to design things impractically to make a fun game, other times I see the stuff and go "Wowww... why." Destroy them at MK8 for me! **


	45. Chapter 45: Resolution

Arthur's eyes opened. "Water." He croaked.

"Yeah, that's kind of why I pushed you here." Denny passed Arthur a bottle. "Hungry?"

"..." Arthur shook his head, and drained the water bottle. "...Lost my appetite."

"Fair enough. Just don't go hurting yourself because Treble's in a bad situation. That won't help him." Said Denny.

"Arthur!" Said Joe warmly.

Arthur nodded in acknowledgement.

"You were out for almost twelve hours. It's late morning." Said William. "...Your parents are worried."

Arthur grimaced. "...Do they know?"

"The whole world knows." Said William. "Morgan was broadcasting the whole thing live, since he wanted to make an example of you. So now he's legally in so many kinds of trouble there's been a minor fight over which legal system gets to throw the book at him. The governments decided they'd make a special example and try him in both."

"...The whole world saw me get shot in the chest? Hope I didn't make too many kids upset." Arthur just spoke whatever came to mind. He was too tired not to.

"We have bigger worries. There's a hundred and one loose ends to tie up." Said Joe.

"But start with your parents." Ethan walked into the room. "I've said it before, I'll say it again- it's not something you'll ever regret."

"We have a bit of breathing room now." Said Denny. "Treble won't be in more danger if left be, so we're going to recover our own strength before anything else. Okay?"

Arthur nodded numbly. "...It hurts to leave him where he is."

"But it won't delete him or kill you." Countered Denny. "Now, we did our best to remove any bugs Gregar caused in your consciousness, but you might have some moments in the coming days."

"Ok. So what..." Arthur yawned. "Can I... do?"

"Call your parents and go to bed." Said Ethan.

"Uh huh. You've effectively been going for thirty hours, much more and you'll faint again." Said Joe.

Arthur yawned again. "...Don't want to leave Treble, but... ok. Can't... argue like this." He stiffly rose from the chair, limping a bit from the hard seat. He shuffled for the doors. "...Need my PET to call."

"Here." Denny handed him the device.

Arthur blearily opened the menus, looking through. Eventually he found his parents mail. 'Am alive. Need to sleep.' He hit send and shuffled forwards, nearly comatose. He entered the room, and slumped face first onto the bed, losing consciousness instantly.

* * *

It was around six when Arthur picked himself up. He opened the door to the room, to see Blaze waiting outside. "Hey, Blaze."

"Hey Arthur." Blaze said, quietly.

"...Where's your normal cheer?"

"I just... Well, I guess I was just worried about you."

"...Thanks, but worry for Treble instead. I'll be fine."

"Heh, that's Arthur." Said Ember. "Lan had everyone make a promise to work together to rescue him as soon as possible, but we need a few days. My balance data still needs to be restored, but I'll do everything I can."

"So, what's been going on while I was out?"

Blaze brought up a list on her PET. "Well, Morgan got arrested by _literally_ an entire army, the Eurasia area is under ultra-heavy-duty lockdown, Crescendo is nowhere to be found, Amaterasu is here, Flare is still sick but we can actually look at her properly now, the four Eurasia navis they sent here are due to stand trial tomorrow, Chaud's been dealing with goverment stuff for nearly twelve hours straight, the media is having a meltdown, Wily is on the verge of snapping after the Colonel and Iris systems were shown to the world THAT way, and we're searching for MathMan and PlugMan's data. To start."

"...Oookay. Where do I fit in to all that?"

"No idea." Said Blaze. "But if you want to see anyone, then we're all around."

Arthur nodded. "...Flare must be devastated."

"It was rough for her. Gregar too, he nearly deleted Alias' sister when he was in the Colonel system."

"Sister?"

"Amaterasu. She's his sister."

"Oh. Well, I'll go see Flare." Sighed Arthur. "..." He walked off. His PET was silent.

* * *

Arthur came into the aviators room. "Flare?"

"HERE..."

"..."

"..." Arthur sat down.

"...How are you feeling?" Said Arthur.

"I... IT ACHES. I JUST WANT EVERYTHING TO BE OKAY AGAIN..."

"...I'm kind of torn up too." Added Falzar, unexpectedly. "Still owe him for bodyguarding me."

Arthur sighed. "...Well, things seem to be looking up. I won't rest until Treble's back, and I'm sure he won't rest until you're okay."

"IF I COULD JUST HAVE PUSHED ON, THEN-"

"No, you'd only have gotten yourself hurt." Said Arthur. "There was nothing you could have done, it's my fault."

"BUT..."

"Besides, everyone is coming together to try and get him back. I won't lie, I want to just keep crying, and I wonder if I could have done something to change this, but... he's not gone."

"I KNOW... IT'S JUST HARD."

"...Yeah."

There was quiet for a bit.

"So, what are the plans for you two? It's awkward, knowing we can't even put you into the same net." Said Arthur.

"Well, I considered just merging with Flare, since that would put all the power in one body, but Flare won't let me, since we'll be fighting for control like before, and I'd have to go and challenge Gregar." Explained Falzar. "Which would likely have just made everything worse."

"AND I CAN'T REGENERATE THE POWER MYSELF, BECAUSE I KNOW IT ALREADY EXISTS."

"Hmm... well, if we could just get Flare out of cybeast form, then she'd probably feel a lot better. She was fine as a navi with a chunk of power missing." Said Arthur.

"I'VE TRIED- FALZAR HAS THE DATA FOR MY NAVI FORM, IT'S WHY I CAN'T CHANGE BACK."

"Ohh, that makes sense actually. I guess the data had to come from somewhere. What if you just... borrowed someone else's body?" Suggested Arthur.

"Baaad idea." Said Falzar. "Unless they have an ExaMemory or some kind of way to cheat a data limit like Alias, then that would be like trying to fit your hand into your ear. Painful and pointless."

"...Strange choice of words but ok. So what do you propose we do? Getting Flare back up would be a good step towards reclaiming Treble."

"...Not sure. I'm marked as the original, so I can't just transfer the power back. I could seperate some, and you could transfer that, but there's a limit to how much I can take out."

"Well, maybe it'll ease her sickness." Theorised Arthur. "Then again... we're about to have Yuichiro help out, so maybe we should let him try first."

"YEAH..."

"I'll go get him now, unless you want to talk about anything?"

"THERE'S ACTUALLY SOMETHING... COULD YOU FIND OUT HOW COLONEL AND IRIS ARE DOING? I ONLY KNOW THAT THEY WERE USED FOR ALL THIS, IRIS MUST BE SHAKEN."

"I'll do it." Confirmed Arthur. "Best of luck solving your problem."

* * *

After finding Yuichiro and reminding him about Flare, to which he responded he had the meeting scheduled for ten minutes time, and that Iris could be found in Wily's lab. Arthur made his way over.

"...Iris?" He said, stepping into the room.

"She doesn't want to see anyone right now." Said Ethan. "...You're up. How are you feeling now?"

"...Beaten up. But still working." Said Arthur. "..."

"Hmph, we can't expect more." Said Wily. "Colonel is handling things a bit better, if you want to speak to him instead."

Arthur pulled up a chair and sat down with a sigh. "..." He couldn't think what to say.

"Arthur! I'm sorry I shot you! I didn't mean to, I wasn't in control!"

"..." Arthur nodded. "I don't hold anything against you. But if you want to apologise... well, any idea where Bass is right now? Don't risk yourself, just if you know..."

Colonel shook his head. "He's outside my range. I'll need some signal boosters to cover the whole net... And I'll need to go through a trial here before those get set up."

"...Well, it was worth asking. Flare wants to know how Iris is."

"She's locked herself into her room, and she won't come out." Said Colonel. "...She's worried that everyone will hate her. I was only able to have a short conversation."

"I'm considering sending Gregar in to talk to her." Said Ethan. "At least she trusts him."

Arthur nodded, and sighed again. "...I feel tired. I'm going back to bed."

"Hey, one second." Said Ethan. "I talked with Gregar, he'd be happy to be your navi for a few days until we get Treble back."

"...I need to talk with him first. And he needs to talk to Iris. I'll visit you in the morning." Arthur yawned.

"It's normal to be like this." Said Wily. "Your body expends energy as if you were awake when in the pulse-in machine, and your emotions will have been unbalanced."

"Mhm." Arthur left the room. "Ethan... tell Flare how Colonel and Iris are doing..."

* * *

Arthur sat up the next morning, feeling much better. He didn't feel tiredness seeping through every inch of his body, he didn't feel like his head weighed twice as much. He rolled over, and saw his now empty PET. A wave of sadness hit. Arthur stared at it for a moment, and could almost imagine Treble saying 'But at least it's not as bad as yesterday!', with his usual optimism. Arthur smiled bittersweetly, and got out of bed, changing. Denny's bunk was already empty. He walked out of the room, and gave Ethan's door a knock.

"I'm right here." Said Ethan, from a chair across the corridor.

"Sorry. Just woke up..." Said Arthur. "What's the time?"

"Eight. Not really late or anything, just we've all been used to getting up at six."

Arthur nodded.

Gregar spoke up. "You wanted to talk with me, right?"

"...I should have done it at the time. I don't remember what I wanted to ask about now." Admitted Arthur. "...Oh, but one thing. Are you sure Colonel and Iris will be okay if you're not around them?"

"They have each other, now that I've straightened out Iris. Of course, I want to keep an eye on them... Amaterasu too, I can't believe I didn't stop myself from- never mind. I'll help you out while we figure out where Bass is."

"Thanks." Said Arthur, accepting the PET from Ethan. "...Hm. I don't actually know what to do today. Where am I needed?"

"You've mostly done your part." Said Gregar. "But Flare could always use our support, and Chaud'll want to see you too."

"...Well, I have faith Yuichiro will keep Flare in good shape, so I'll go see Chaud. See you later, Ethan."

"You too."

* * *

"Arthur, I've been waiting for you." Said Chaud. "Have a seat."

Arthur pulled out a chair, and sat down. "..."

"First of all... I am sorry about your navi. We're doing what we can to recover him, but you understand the difficulty. If not for Lan, I'd probably be asking you to let him go right now. As it is, I'd just like to ask for your patience."

"...I'm lucky he wasn't totally deleted up in that fight. The more I think about it, the more I realise that I lost my grip on things and just assumed we would win."

"I won't lie, there were several errors in your plan. But ultimately, it worked and likely prevented a lot of conflict, so we won't dwell on that. There was a vote while you were unconscious, and just like Ethan, we agreed you have earned an official star- although if you want to wait until we recover Treble before we present it, then I will understand."

"That would be nice... I'm glad you're so confident we'll recover him."

Chaud barely reacted, bringing up another file on his PET. "Next, there's the matter of the Wirope government. They're quite embarrassed Eurasia was able to beat them so easily, and they have asked to speak to you over a video call. Truthfully, I expect it's to save their own image, but I'll make sure they don't start asking you questions. Next, there's the matter of Eurasia."

"Is the institute going to close? I... actually hope it doesn't. They all seemed like nice people when I visted."

"Thankfully, Morgan's testimony is likely to have the previous head reinstated, and Wirope simply can't shut them. Although this amount of disruption to their affairs is likely to be a huge blow to them anyway, so it's likely that other competitors will overtake them."

Arthur nodded. "...Well, as long as I don't have a collapsing company on my shoulders... Anything else I need to know?"

"There's still more. The four agressors from Eurasia were closely examined. They were all navis that were incomplete, made and immediately thrown at us, while kept in the dark regarding Morgan's plans. They've had their weapons temporarily uninstalled, and they each have been sentenced to a year's community service. I should say, two of them have bugs that are so ingrained into them now that they're unlikely to ever be fixed. If you encounter them on the net, then just don't forget that they're harmless now. And there's yet more..."

"Even more?"

"Yes. This is from all of us at Scilabs." Said Chaud, taking out a box from under the desk. "You've contributed a lot these few months, even if you're not actually an official. I noticed your old PET was manually modified, so I thought this would suit you a bit better, once Treble is back. It uses the very latest technology, it has a special memory, a custom OS, and of course, functionally indestructible. I know in battle the difference will be minimal compared to your old one, but I imagine your navi will be comfortable."

"...Thanks. I can keep the old one, right? I have some great memories in there."

"Of course. So... stay around Scilabs for the day, I'll call you when the Wirope government are expected. I have one question, though."

"Go on."

"...How am I doing, as a leader? I've only held this position for a few months, I've been trying to learn not to talk down to people. Skill in battle can only take me so far."

"I'd say you're doing a great job. Honestly I wonder how you do it, I've never seen you take a break."

"Thank you. That will be all for now."

* * *

"So, I guess we ought to see Flare next." Said Arthur. "I'll just go drop this off in my room." He held the new PET's box.

"The doctor was able to make some good progress with her." Said Gregar. "She can fly around now, and she's not suffering from a lack of energy."

"Oh, that's wonderful news. With any luck, she'll be okay by tomorrow."

"Yeah. Huh, we still owe you that party for winning."

"...Save it for when the one who actually did the fighting is around."

"Naturally. Have to say, it's been too long since I had a good fight with him. Seems like it's been months." Commented Gregar.

"Mm. I know it's only been a couple of days, but I feel like everything happened just hours ago."

"..."

"Conversation jump, I know. Well, here we are." Arthur pushed the dorr open. "Flare, any news?"

"A BIT!" Flare sounded much more positive than twenty four hours ago. "I HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO MOVE AROUND AND FLY NORMALLY. COMBAT MIGHT NOT GO WELL."

"That's good." Said Gregar. "You'll be back to the bird berzerker we all know and fear in no time, sis."

"Hey! I don't get that title?!" Called Falzar from the side. "How did a pacifist like her get that title?! I demand to know!"

Gregar snickered. "Go search up sarcasm, teasing and jokes next time you have a connection to the net."

"...How are you doing now, Falzar? Any progress on just... well, I don't really know your goal?" Asked Arthur.

"Trying to totally seperate myself. As it stands I'm at 25% power, but I can't seperate any more from myself."

"Right. Flare, any luck on getting back into Navi form?"

"NO... IF THERE WAS A WAY TO MAKE SURE FALZAR WOULDN'T GO AFTER GREGAR, I COULD JUST MERGE WITH HER, BUT..."

"She can come after me." Said Gregar. "Not like I'm suddenly going to lose to her now, after beating you in combat three times. Honestly, the first was closest."

"You don't seem to fear me very much." Said Falzar.

"Nope. I've dealt with navis that want to delete me pretty much constantly for a few years, so it'll take something a bit badder than you to scare me."

"Oh, Amaterasu is badder than me then?" Deadpanned Falzar.

"How the-"

"EVERYONE KNOWS." Said Flare. "...YOU WERE APOLOGIZING TO HER FOR ALMOST AN HOUR STRAIGHT, TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS FOR THE WHOLE THING."

"Um, what?" Said Arthur. "Are you implying that-"

"It's nothing that concerns you." Interrupted Gregar. "Back to the important stuff, what should we do about Treble? Everyone here wants to save him."

"...It's something I've been thinking about nonstop. The bottom line is that we need to know where we can find him, and then we'll probably need to use MegaMan or your, uh, combined form to take him on. Not sure which would be the right choice. But we also need to make sure he can't portal out, or a dozen other things."

"WELL, I CAN FLY THANKS TO YUICHIRO HELPING GET ALL THAT POWER TRANSFERRED." Said Flare. "I'LL BE FAR OUT OF ANYONE'S RANGE IF I'M AT MAXIMUM HEIGHT, BUT I'LL BE ABLE TO DETECT BASS JUST FINE. LET ME SEARCH."

"I certainly won't turn you down, but..." Arthur frowned considering the risks "I want you to make some test flights around safe areas first, to make sure you won't have any problems and to give me time to hopefully get the last of this Eurasia mess out of the way and properly organise the rescue team."

"Hm. What I'd give to have the time you do." Said Falzar. "It's incredible, the choices it opens up."

"Let's get going then." Said Gregar.

* * *

Arthur made his way over to Yuichiro's lab. "Doctor Yuichiro?"

"Just Yuichiro is fine. How can I help?"

"I just wanted to know if there's anything I can do now, about the Eurasia stuff?"

"Not that I know of... oh, the request BBS is pretty backlogged though, since we haven't worked on it for a few days. I see you've borrowed Gregar, so if you could help us clear it out a bit then that would probably make it easier to wrap up this matter."

"I'll get to it." Said Arthur smoothly, turning and walking out of the room. He looked at Gregar sheepishly. "Where... is the request board?"

Gregar lightly rolled his eyes. "It's to the right of the front desk, you go past it every day."

"Oh." Arthur set off down the corridors, trying to think of some kind of conversational topic. "...Anything you want to talk about? I feel like we should bond while we can."

"Not really. I only even learned how to talk by welding myself to a navi, and he wasn't great at it either."

"...Nice weather, right?"

"We're indoors."

"I'm trying."

"Yeah, better than me. Wait, there is something I want to talk about. You know Amaterasu?"

"Barely. To me, she's just an ally Ethan called upon- and a very reliable one."

"Huh. Well, she's actually half the reason I can fight at my full potential. You should consider seeing her."

"Why? How?"

"Even if I was able to get a voice and knowledge of how to speak english and some human traits when I was resurrected, I still have the soul of a cybeast. It doesn't resonate with people. So no synchro."

"Amaterasu found a way around?"

"In her village they teach a technique called mushin. It lets you enter synchro automatically, but it takes some time and there can be..." Gregar hesitated. "Side effects."

"Ah, so Ethan used that to let you reach your full potential. That must be how you beat MegaMan."

"Right. But obviously, since it takes time to set up, then it's not great against someone who knows they're against the clock. Especially since it makes it harder for a netop to think. Amaterasu was the one to suggest it to me."

"I see. So, you think I could learn it to get in synchro with Treble?"

"Yes."

"...Well, thanks, I'll consider it. Although I have hit synchro with him naturally a few times, doing it reliably would be nice."

* * *

"Okay... Well, I can't even accept half of these." Said Arthur, looking over the request list. "...Guess it's sensible. I only have experince toppling an entire criminal institute."

"Oh, heya Arthur." Blaze walked over, wiping her brow. "They got you clearing this too?"

"Yeah. Not really sure what I'm doing, but I think this request for a battlechip shouldn't be too hard."

"Most of them aren't. Apart from that one I had once that wanted DollThunder A." Said Blaze. "Well, hopefully I'll have this cleared pretty soon!"

"...There are eight five-star requests on here."

"So? It was twenty when I started yesterday!" Said Blaze with a laugh. "Okay, virus at the 'Don't Go' Inn. Catch you later!" Blaze ran off.

"...She's in her element." Said Arthur, watching her go. "Anyway, what was the request?"

"Someone is looking for a CornShot1 J, so they can use the CornFiesta advance." Said Gregar.

"Well, that should be easy enough." Arthur walked outside, and found a jack-in port on a statue. "Gregar, hunt."

Gregar appeared in the cyberworld. "You know where to find BombCorn, right?"

"Yeah, they're pretty common. Head for my area, you can find them in the place that connects it and Scilabs." Arthur watched Gregar go, noting that while he moved at pretty much the same speed as Treble when walking, his tail seldom moved more than a few inches wither side, and was held at a lower angle. Plus he also had a somewhat different approach to viruses in his way, while Treble would go out of his way to destroy everything he was allowed to, if it wasn't in Gregar's way, Gregar didn't bat an eye at it. If it did get in his way? It died.

"Okay, I see them around here."

"CornShot1, J code. That's our target. Not hard."

"Nope." Gregar jumped forwards, and slashed the closest one. "Any luck?"

"K code. Try again."

Almost a full hour later, Arthur was able to jack out. "I swear... we must have gone through nearly a hundred of them."

"The end is what matters, though."

"True. I'd better go and deliver this..."

* * *

Arthur was getting back into Scilabs when he saw Joe waiting for him. "Good news, on all fronts."

"Oh? What is it?"

"MathMan is back. I'll need a little while to fix him, but all in all I think he'll be able to help once we find Bass."

"Oh, that's wonderful."

"The other news is a bit bigger. Come with me." Joe lead Arthur to the aviator's room. Ethan and Chaud and Blaze were all waiting inside. A large cardboard box was on the table.

"...I've had security check it. This package doesn't have anything nasty inside." Said Chaud.

"What's in there?" Asked Arthur.

"Open it and find out." Encouraged Blaze. "I bet it's cool!"

Arthur unfolded the top of the box, and peered inside. there was a ziploc bag full of battlechips, a PET, and a small wooden box with a gold plaque on top. Arthur lifted out the bag first, looking at it. "Oh, this is my folder. I left it at Eurasia when the copybot ran out..."

Ethan nodded. "I wonder who sent it back?"

"Anything else?" Asked Blaze.

Arthur took out the PET. "Well, here's the PET I used... although I just got gifted that one by everyone. And there's this, too..." He lifted out the small wooden box. "They put my name on it." He opened the lid, seeing a single, golden chip lying inside, along with a printed note. "...'We of the Wirope government offer our most sincere apologies for the actions taken by Morgan Wellspring, and hope it will not affect your opinion of us. Nonetheless, please accept this.'" Arthur looked at the chip.

"What is it?" Said Ethan.

"HeroSword." Said Arthur, taking it out of the box and inspecting the gold. "This might be ACTUAL gold... Maybe it'll make a difference in the coming battles."

"I can vouch for that chip." Said Chaud. "200 damage and further reach than a LongSword is nothing to joke about. Is there any data on that PET?"

Arthur turned it on. "No trace of Treble. Ah well, I didn't expect better- and I have more faith in you guys."

"Hm. Your talk with the prime minister of Wirope is scheduled for two hours time, if you'd get ready." Said Chaud.

"This soon?" Said Arthur. He looked back to Joe. "...Right. I won't slow down. I'm counting on you and Ethan to keep up the effort for Treble, though."

"Everything's falling into place." Assured Joe. "We'll be able to start searching properly tomorrow."

"Great."

* * *

The video call started. Arthur was sitting in the chair Chaud normally used, bolt upright and sweating bullets. He'd done nothing wrong, but the thought of addressing people this far above him in society... It made his stomach quiver, no matter how calm he appeared.

"Greetings, Mr. Penn." Said an older man in a suit.

"G-good day, Prime minister." Arthur never stuttered normally. Not even when faced with Morgan.

"On behalf of Wirope, we thank you and Scilabs of Electopia for your actions, and we deeply apologise for our own. We are sorry for the injury you suffered."

"It is okay. I accepted the risks when I- acted as I did. I do worry I should be the one apologising to you, I should have gotten your permission before acting in a matter concerning your country."

"Think nothing of it. You inflicted absolute minimum hardship upon us through your course, far less than a war or even traditional infiltration would have. Our people are all grateful."

Arthur tried to think of somethign to say. Anything. If there was ever a time to try and present your very best side... "Are they all okay? I understand your military was neutralised, but I don't know the specifics."

"Exactly two deaths, but a few hundred wounded soldiers. They took command of our automated sentry robots, while disabling a large portion of our weapons. No civilians were hurt, thankfully."

"That is good. If I may ask, what will you do regarding Morgan, and the Eurasia institute? I don't believe the institute is at fault, but I don't know everything."

"Morgan will be tried by both our countries. Anything less than life imprisonment would be an insult to you. As for Eurisia... Mrs. Farrows, If you would?"

A woman in an immaculate blue suit spoke. "They're pending a full investigation, but almost all their facilities and staff are unhurt, and the previous head is likely to be found innocent. We're looking at around three million zenny in lost time, and a further five million has been agreed between us and your government as reparations for the attacks. Morgan will be shouldering the brunt of that."

Arthur nodded. "..."

The prime minister spoke again. "Now. There is just one more matter- The navi that appeared to assist you during that fight, how much do you know about them?"

Arthur glanced back to Chaud. "...Sir, I know a lot of information surrounding him is quite classified. I don't mean to be rude, but I'd like to have my superior answer this."

Chaud stepped forwards. "He knows all about his capabilities, and has worked with us to combat him on several occasions, which led to Bass developing some degree of respect for him. He is not in league with Bass, to the best of my knowledge."

"...I see." Said the Prime minister. "What are your intentions now, Mr. Penn?"

"I'm planning to go after Bass, since he has my navi and I believe my friends have the power to overcome him if we plan carefully. In regards to Eurasia, I'd just like to put it behind me, and live in peace and security. That's all, really."

The Prime Minister nodded. "Very well. You are a widely liked figure among the public, so on their behalf, and as thanks, we will give you another reward in addition to the chip."

"You're very kind. What will it be?"

"Truthfully, we're not sure. You're eighteen soon, what are your career prospects? A letter of recommendation will do wonders for your chances at a good job. And there's always material reward, and we can make a payment to Scilabs or your parents or guardians- not to you directly, I'm afraid. Legal issues."

"...I'll take the letter, please. I'd prefer a stable future."

"A wise decision. I'll have it mailed to you for a week's time. Is anything else you want to discuss with us? We're not likely to speak again."

Arthur considered as hard as he could. "...Just please know that if you need me for any reason, then I'll be willing to help as long as you're... considerate."

"Very well. Goodbye, and we hope you will visit us in the future." The call ended.

Arthur exhaled. "Oohhhhhaarrrrgghhh. I don't want to do that again. I thought I was going to be crushed by just their looks."

"Heh. It can be intimidating the first time." Agreed Chaud. "I think that's all you need to do now..." He looked at his PET. "...Oh, the request board has emptied? That was fast."

"Blaze has been going like mad at it." Said Arthur.

"...Yes, she's cleared almost thirty requests..." Murmured Chaud. He placed a hand on his chin. "ProtoMan, page her here. I think she's earned something."

"Hm? What?"

Chaud opened a drawer on his desk, and took out a chip. "I'd say this might make her efforts worthwhile. She's done an incredible amount of work on our behalf." Arthur saw ProtoMan on the front, blade readied. "My DeltaRay chip should also make it a bit easier for her to help you recover Treble. I'll join the recovery team tomorrow. Consider it a show of thanks."

 **Author's notes: I have fallen into the christmas update void, where nothing happens and it smells like peppermint. Mostly just resolving stuff in this chapter, setting up things and setting down things. But the story's not over quite yet...**

 **WanderingAnon: Hope has yet to die! Perhaps it can heal your soul...**

 ** _JaneValentine007_ : I didn't actually ever watch season one of the anime with PharaohMan, only a later season. Hehe, I hope your heart can recover from my little stopper. Bass is on the top of our to-do list, so here we go!**

 **Lucaura678: That review was the magnitude of review that had me literally crying in joy, and gave me strength like I'd had a decent meal and a full night's sleep. Thank you so much for giving a detailed analysis, that's absolutely coveted by authors and I've taken as much as I can to heart. And if there's one thing I'll gladly promise you here and now- I will see this story through to completion. I only hope I can maintain my standards for you.**


	46. Chapter 46: The last area

Arthur sat up at about five in the morning. It was still dark outside. But he was burning with anticipation. His heart felt like a wound-up coil. "Today. It's been three days, but today we can finally start."

"You're up early." The PET turned itself on.

"I don't think even a tranquiliser could have kept me asleep considering what we'll be doing today." Said Arthur. "What's the time?"

"It's earlier than you're normally up." Said Denny. "Of course, I suspected you might be."

"Denny, at literally no point in the last year I've known you... have I seen any indication you've slept." Said Arthur.

"Trade secret. Come on, the others all promised Lan they'd help you, but I doubt they're up yet, so I'd say a good breakfast should give you some more energy for today. Anywhere you prefer?"

"...That shop that did fry-ups was really nice. Maybe I'll have a breakfast wrap. But we're coming back here the moment we've got them, I don't want to give anything less than my all."

"I'll just run and get them myself. I doubt anyone else is up yet, but if you want to head out for a walk, then we'll probably be spending the day cooped up, since we'll be trawling the Undernet."

"If you're sure. I don't want any black pudding, okay?"

"Wouldn't wish that gunge on my enemies." Agreed Denny. "Real black pudding is nice, but that stuff? Not so." Denny gracefully jumped from top bunk to the door, in full clothing, sweeping out and shutting the door without so much as a click."

"...That ninja movement he does still confuses me." Said Arthur.

"I should learn it. That ShadowMan navi is one of the few navis that I think might actually be able to beat me." Said Gregar.

"Really? He seems strong, but you actually think he could beat you?"

"I was assuming he'd open the fight with me when I'm not expecting it."

"Ah. That would make things a bit easier for him." Arthur sat up, and stretched. "Denny is right, a walk should help get me ready for today. Just a short one. But where to?"

"The train station. Wily spent ages yesterday making a replacement part for it so the trains could run, the first ones in a week are today." Said Gregar.

"Good idea. Hm, I could finally go back home again if I wanted to. But not today."

"No."

* * *

Arthur looked out at the station, seeing people bustle over the platforms. "Guess everyone has places to be now that the trains are running."

"Duh." Said Gregar jokingly. He was quiet for a moment. "Hey, I'm not likely to work with you again in the future, so I have a question."

"Go on."

"...Well... What if I fail? It's been eating at me, that I failed once already and Treble paid for it. What if I can't beat Bass?"

"Then I'll try and get you out alive, first and foremost." Said Arthur. "Time is on our side, since Treble is effectively safe... although it does hurt me to be cold like that. But we can simply try again as long as everyone survives. Besides, Treble would be heartbroken if you got deleted for him- well, if anyone got deleted for him."

"Fair enough. Well, only one other question then..." Gregar looked away for a moment, oddly sheepish. "What's it like having parents?"

"Uh-" Arthur sweated a tiny bit. "...Well, I've never not had parents, but they're good to have around. They're people that care about you and hopefully have your best interests at heart. I'm starting to be less dependent on them now I guess, but... I hope I can stay with them for a while longer, and have good relations until..."

"I was just curious. Born from bugs, remember." Said Gregar. "Let's head back, the others should get up soon."

"Yeah. Time to finally put the Eurasia business behind me, as much as I can. I'll probably get asked about it a lot in the coming years. Oh, remind me to give Ethan back his BlackBarrier and Muramasa with you... and I guess the BugCurse. Even if that's mine."

* * *

Everyone gathered in one of the labs. Initially they'd been in the aviators room, but it was too small. Lan was at the centre of the small crowd of skilled operators, and held up a hand for silence. "So, everyone knows what we're here for, right?" Said Lan.

There was an echo of yes.

"Alright, so it's going to be our purpose to find Bass and rescue Treble! Flare, you offered to go and look from the sky, so if you set off, and everyone else jacks in?"

"GOT IT!"

The huge team of navis appeared in the area. Lan had gotten a lot on his side. MegaMan, ProtoMan, Roll, Alias, Gregar, Ember, SteamMan, MathMan, ArsenalMan and Amaterasu. Ten navis, plus Flare.

"So, everyone follow me!" Said MegaMan, heading towards the Undernet.

"Wait, let me make a link to the entrance." Interrupted Alias. "Chip, do your stuff!" A panel glowed a familiar white. Everybody filed through, coming out in front of the Undernet. "Flare should be here soon, she can fly fast."

"Okay, the best way to search this would be to split up until we locate Bass, but don't go near him until you have backup." Said Chaud. "I believe you can all hold your own against Undernet viruses."

"Yeah, can do!" Said Blaze. "Denny, you've got a map of this place, right?"

"It's not complete, it doesn't cover some of the very deepest areas." Said Denny, bringing up a map. "If we'd gottn PlugMan back, then I could have had him guide you, but... never mind. Here are all the places Lan has Fought Bass before- World three's area, the Secret area, Black Earth, Nebula area, and the Underground. I guess there's also that one dead end in the normal net where they first fought, but I doubt he'd be there."

Flare soared overhead, and Ethan took her PET. "Flare, if you go straight in and check the deep area here then the rest of us can probably sweep through the remaining area."

"ON MY WAY."

"Everyone, move out. Be thorough, and if you get into trouble, then fall back and recover- there's nothing brave about throwing yourself away." Said Chaud.

* * *

An hour passed of careful operating, and tough battle. "...We've searched everywhere, even Bass's homepage, and no trace of him or Crescendo." Said Blaze in frustration. "Where's he gone?!"

"There must be something we're missing..." Said Chaud.

"Is everyone's navi okay?" Asked Lan. "I have some subchips if they're getting worn down."

Arthur kept thinking. "...Ah, I have an idea! It's a little risky, since it will let Bass know we're after him, but it might give us a hint. What if I mailed Crescendo and asked?"

"...Why would he tell you?" Said Denny.

"Bass does like his fights." Countered Joe. "So does Treble, and he's inside Bass."

"Alright then. Send the mail." Said Chaud.

Arthur started typing. 'Crescendo, are you able to tell us where we can fight Bass? We're ready to battle him.'

He waited for a reply.

'You're not ready. You think you are, but if anyone challenges him now they'll be obliterated. However, if you come to this location, then I will explain.'

"That's... hmm, I don't know exactly where that is." Arthur showed everyone the address.

"I'VE SEEN IT FROM THE AIR. I'LL FLY OVER NOW, YOU GUYS CAN TRACK ME EASILY."

"Everyone, form up on Flare." Instructed Chaud. It took a while for some of the navis in outlying areas to reach her, but eventually the group had reformed.

A portal opened, a shade of deep blue compared to the dark purple Bass' were. Crescendo stepped out. "Hm. I see you're moving out in force."

"YOU'D BETTER TELL US WHERE TREBLE IS." Flare's tone wasn't threatening, but even when she'd landed she was twice as tall as Crescendo.

"He's in Bass, you already knew that. Bass, however... well, he believes that he's finally able to beat you, MegaMan. But he wants to beat all of you- and he wants to beat you at your absolute strongest, the very best you can be, to prove he's the better."

"Okay..." Said MegaMan. "I have all the chips, I'm sure I can match him."

"Don't forget us. I'm going to give him a lesson or two." Added Gregar.

Crescendo nodded. "He's willing to take on all of you, as long as you're at your best first. But finding opponents strong enough to challenge you might be tough, and while MegaMan has all the chips, the rest of you are likely missing a lot- I doubt you had time to collect them. So... we've come up with a solution." Crescendo took hold of his cloak. "...Step forwards, you who wish to proceed to the trials ahead."

Gregar stepped forwards.

"I see that you have collected more than 120 standard chips, and you have the potential to challenge Bass." Said Crescendo, and threw his cloak into the air behind him. "You and your friends can go on. And be ready."

Gregar and Alias looked at it determinedly, waiting for the others to be allowed forwards. Amaterasu walked up, before Crescendo held up a hand. "...Your strength is undeniable, but it's already at its maximum. You would not be unhelpful, but as you cannot challenge Bass... I cannot allow you in."

Amaterasu glared. "They're my friends. What kind of navi would I be if I just left them to fate?"

Roll stepped up too. "She's as strong as me, and I fought Bass!"

"You couldn't scratch him." Said Crescendo. "...I'm sorry I can't let you in, but for what it's worth: It's nothing personal."

Roll sighed. "Mega, be safe..."

"It's okay, Roll. Bass won't bring me down." Said MegaMan. "I can go in, right?"

"Of course."

Ember, SteamMan and ProtoMan were left. "What about us?" Said Ember.

Crescendo looked torn. "...The three of you... this is a tough call. You've all fought Bass before, and while you didn't win, you were able to land some hits, which is far more than most navis. Well, the trials ahead will likely stop you if you're not worthy."

"I don't have enough standard chips." Said ArsenalMan. "...I guess you can't make an exception?"

"No."

"I do. And I too have matched against Bass, even if I couldn't win." Said MathMan.

"...You are... barely strong enough." Said Crescendo. "...So that only leaves one."

"Huh? That was everyone." Said Arthur.

Crescendo turned. "Zero. I know you're there."

Zero stepped out from around a corner. "Your senses are sharp. I operate alone, but I have a lot of power."

"Perhaps, but without chips I do not believe you can succeed." Said Crescendo. "If there's any kind of aid you want to give, give it now."

Zero nodded. "Alias, Amaterasu. My younger half-siblings. I have watched over you as long as I can. Once you enter here, Alias... I cannot offer any further help. So take this- it's the last chip I have to give you. I'm still with you in spirit." He passed Alias a chip.

Alias nodded firmly, and smiled. "Fist bump? Between brothers?" He raised a hand.

Zero cracked a smile, and bumped. "Ciel would be proud you came so far. Now go."

The allowed Navis walked forwards, into the portal.

* * *

Gregar stepped out into the area. "What is this place?"

Ember took one step and shuddered. She looked down and grimaced. "I think Bass created it. How powerful has he become, if he can just create an entire area?"

Crescendo stepped out behind the group. "Welcome to the most dangerous area on the net."

"Does it have a name?" Said Blaze.

"...We couldn't think of one. Perhaps one of you has a good suggestion?"

"This is probably the last big challenge for a while." Said MegaMan. "Sure there might be others in the future, but I'd say... this is the LastArea."

"Yeah, I agree. What else is there on the horizon? Once Colonel and Iris are up, then I imagine crime will be down." Said Gregar. "So, Crescendo, guide us!"

"There's no need." Said Crescendo. "This area can all be accessed without further portals or linkage. But there are barriers that we've set up to make sure you can't pass until you're ready for Bass. And several guardians we've found, who should serve to strengthen you. Mark our words, MegaMan- we'll show you that our ideals are greater than yours."

"..." MegaMan sighed. "Look, can you tell Bass... I don't want to keep fighting him like this. He's been through a lot, and he has every reason to hate humanity, but... Maybe he should accept that he can't win?"

"I could. But he won't listen." Said Crescendo. "Anyhow, the gates here will close behind you, so everyone will need to meet the requirements for each one before they proceed, unless some members wish to give up. Aside from the guardians, the viruses here are also stronger than anywhere else... That's all I have to say. I imagine you'll have to go in and out a few times to meet the requirements for several of the barriers, so I'll be waiting in the Undernet, to transport you to and from this area."

"Understood. Come on, let's see just what Bass can throw at us." Said Gregar.

* * *

"Why are there so. Many. DOORS!" Shouted Ember, gesturing around. "Door here, door there! Door for collecting chips, door for beating a bunch of viruses, door with incredibly un-specific needs! DOOR FOR OPENING OTHER DOORS!" She threw her arms out towards it in sheer frustration. It didn't open.

"Yeah, they might have gone overboard." Said Alias. "This one wants me to have the blessing of the UnderKing. Who even is that?"

"Serenade." Answered ProtoMan, passing through one of the doors. "I've found chip data. Chaud, here."

Chaud took a moment to write the data to a chip. "...Anubis P. Any takers?"

"Sure thing. I'll finally put those PoisonSeeds to use." Said Ethan. "What was the requirement on the door?"

"Defeat those who were from the WWW." Said Chaud. "Which we've done many, many times over."

"Interesting... this door is also about the WWW. Said MathMan. "It wants us to have explored to the end of the WWW area."

"Let me." MegaMan walked through the door. "Ooh, a HP memory."

"And this one wants a WWW ID." Said Alias. "Ethan, can you go get Wily?"

Gregar grabbed a BlackDragon that was snapping and roaring at him, and suplexed it into the delete bin. "...Tough viruses here. Worse than even the Graveyard."

Arthur was observing carefully. While somewhat of a pessimist by nature, he couldn't help but feel the hope. Everyone was holding up well, and even if it was slow going, they were moving forwards through the area. Flare was still in the air, providing guidance where needed. Everything was working well... suspiciously well, almost. "Any sign of the navi Bass has guarding this place?"

"MAYBE? I SEE A SUSPICIOUS ARENA."

"Oh, this thing." Gregar walked up to a door. "It wants me to have the 'Standard Collector' achievement."

"Well, we have it. 200 different standard chips before Bass would consider us actually worthy to challenge his first line of defence, should we be worried?" Said Ethan. "Let's just do what else we can before we go in. Wily, do you have you WWW ID?"

Wily sighed. "...Perhaps I've gotten sentimental, to have kept something like this. Let's see what Bass has for you." He sent Ethan the file, and Alias waved it at a door.

"It's chip data." Said Alias. "We can use a neutral CircleGun, right?"

"Who couldn't?" Said Ethan.

"I'm going in, if you're not going to stop me." Said Gregar. "...No?"

"Hmm..." Chaud frowned. "Be careful. Ethan, get something defensive ready in case it's a surprise attack. I think I know a navi who could be here, and you don't want to face him unprepared. Lan, would you say it might be PharaohMan?"

"Well- there was an Anubis chip, and everything here is related to the WWW. Wily, what did you do with his remains after I, uh, deleted him?"

"I left his data where it fell, he was designed to be a powerful guardian program that could haunt an area forever as a ghost."

"Could Bass move him?"

"...Here, Gregar. AntiDamage, and you can put up your soul-aura if anything else goes wrong." Said Ethan.

Gregar walked through the door. The entire area dimmed. Ember looked over. "Well, that seems like somebody's grand entrance."

A floor panel opened, and a golden sarcophagus rose out, a face on the front and two gauntlets crossed over it.

"Seems I was right. Okay, don't stand in front of the coffins he summons. And watch out for his Anubis summon." Said Chaud.

"I am PharaohMan." Two more coffins arose, either side of the sarcophagus. "Former guardian of WWW. You who would proceed further into your tomb- prove that you have the strength to die at Bass' hand." The coffins opened, and Ethan expected a mummy to walk out. Instead, Gregar was forced to scramble out of the way of a death ray.

"What the-"

"The element of surprise." Explained Wily.

"Rgh. Gregar, lock and code!"

Gregar was one step ahead, buster pelting PharaohMan. The coffins moved in front, doors closed, forming a wall. Gregar tried to get in close, but even with his high speed he couldn't avoid the combination of another huge laser and a ratton. Far from disheartened, he took a deep breath and used fire breath to try and burn PharaohMan while he hid behind the wall, and while his attack connected so did another giant laser. PharaohMan seemed fond of those.

"Alias, get over and help him! Gregar, here's Guardian, and the Accelerate advance!"

Alias was already running, equipping the F-carving with a wave of his arm, and jumping into the virtual sky. MegaMan and ProtoMan ran up, too. "Need any help bringing him down?"

"We got this!" Replied Alias, landing.

"Okay, guys." Said Ethan. "Work together to make holes in his guard, he's only got two coffins to shield himself. Gregar, DoublePoint, SuperVulcan, and WhiteCapsule coming. Alias, two PoisonSeeds and Anubis should make PoisonPharaoh! You tell me what I'll need to progress it!"

Alias flew upwards, and started firing the Falzar buster. One coffin shifted to try and block him, but it was clear PharaohMan was suited to repelling ground assaults. He made a quick aileron roll to the left, as a hieroglyph exploded where he'd been a moment ago. "Got it. You'll need a PoisonMask and PoisonFace."

"We don't have them." Gregar was suddenly having a far easier time, and the moment the coffin that was still dedicated to him tried to attack, PharaohMan was on the receiving end of the greatly empowered vulcan. "Just cast it!"

A huge obsidian statue flew down, slamming into the floor like a meteorite. It was an exact replica of PharaohMan, but instead of words or data just started to hiss poison outwards. Gregar wasn't reckless enough to stand near it, but after a few moments realised it wasn't poisoning him. A coffin swung around and lasered the statue, but it was only left cracked, not destroyed. Alias swooped down and tried to go hand-to hand with PharaohMan himself, but then the coffin scooted up behind him just as he was about to attack, door wide open. Before he could react, it slammed shut, trapping him inside.

Gregar leapt over the coffin that was charging another blast, transforming mid-leap. "ETHAN, GIVE ME A BOOST AND I'LL END IT HERE!"

"Hurry!" Ethan slammed in the chips.

Gregar didn't use the boost immediately, landing firmly and blasting a beam of thunder straight ahead, the beam passing through everything in its path, catching PharaohMan even with a coffin guarding him. PharaohMan panic-summoned his Anubis, but he was supposed to win fights by stalling with his coffins and spamming ranged attacks from safety. Gregar spat on all that, and charged. Running into the coffins as a navi would have been akin to running into a wall. Running into them as a cybeast might have been enough to knock them out of the way. With that and an advance that was essentially a tackle? Ethan only regretted that there wasn't the sound of bowling pins going flying, because the four things in the way of the giant blue bolt went spinning into the air.

"St-rike!" He cheered, as PharaohMan hit the ground, and attempted to float up a bit before Alias burst out of one of the coffins, strode over and put his boot onto where PharaohMan might have had a chest.

"It's over. Do we need to delete you?" Said Alias.

"No. And if you did, I would only return. YOU may pass... However, the rest of you must beat me to proceed. Go forth, onto the second area. Another guardian awaits."

"How many areas are there?" Pressed Alias.

"Four. This area contains many doors, each which holds additional power, to ensure you are prepared. The next holds a shop. The third, rare viruses, and the last- The last is your tomb. You will not leave the fourth area."

"Yeah, yeah, try a new line. I've been threatened with deletion so much I'd be more afraid of a dinner invitation." Said Gregar, walking over. "If you were meant to be tough then I might not even need to transform to take on Bass."

"Yeah- ow- can you be a bit more gentle next time? I was in that coffin!" Said Alias.

"I'm not that great at being gentle." Said Gregar. "Comes with the whole 'giant wolf' thing. You need to fall back and recover?" He stepped in close, inspecting Alias.

"I'm fine."

"Ethan, jack him out. I actually did hit him pretty hard then. Uh, sorry." Said Gregar.

"It's nothing. We'll have to get to work opening the rest of these doors." Said Alias. "Mega, Proto? Anything you guys can't open?"

"There's one up ahead that wants program advances. Since your main method of attack revolves around them, you should be able to get it done."

"Hey guys, I found a navicust program here!" Called Ember. "The door wanted 30 BBS requests finished in a week. Considering I did that in a day yesterday..."

"Hey, what is it?" Asked Blaze. "We're getting so much stuff..."

"It's called 'EvilLicense'. Seems kind of fishy, if you ask me." Said Ember.

"No, no, that's a really good part!" Said Lan. "It lets you use evil chips like Muramasa without actually being bugged. Of course, it's a pretty big part, so it's not always great."

"Yeah, we can just use TrebleCross anyway." Said Ember. "Still, I guess it's nice to have. Cossak could compress it for us."

"Keep hold of it." Said Arthur. "You never know when a strategy will call for it."

"I guess. So, I suppose that I should try and get the Standard Collector mark now. Burn too."

"Mm. I think that for now, it's time to fall back and work out our next step." Said Joe. "Take note of doors that we need to open."

"Well, all three of us need to get our collections improved." Said Burn. "I only need maybe a dozen chips to get the mark, Blaze should be pretty close too. What about you, Joe?"

"I'm like... eighty short." Said Joe. "I suppose maybe if I compiled a chart of chips I'm missing and cross-referenced it with virus locations to grind efficiently then I might be able to catch up in a few days-"

"Or I could give you some." Said Denny. "I have the mark, and Beta is still being repaired and PlugMan is missing, so I can't help anyway."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course. Now, I just need to worry about getting Blaze up to standard..." Said Denny. "But yes, you should all fall back for now."

"Alright, logging out." Said Blaze.

* * *

"We made good progress today." Said Chaud. "For the time being, I'm going to make this an official mission, so Burn and Blaze can feel free to put as much time as they want into this. We are all bound by this purpose- to rescue Treble." Chaud sighed. "Hmm, I sound far too... grandiose?"

"It sounded leaderly to me!" Said Blaze. "Have a bit more confidence in yourself."

"Thank you, but I think you ought to be searching for those few chips you need." Said Chaud.

"Right. Does anyone have a BubbleStar3? I always stayed away from Puffy viruses, with the elemental weakness and no way to get through the constant bubbles." Asked Blaze.

"Here. Y code, so probably not useful, but oh well." Arthur went through his pockets, eventually taking out the chip. "I'm obviously not going to be the star player here, but I'll put everything I've got into getting Treble back. If anyone needs my chips, just ask."

"Kind of you."

"I can find more chips. I doubt I'd ever be able to find another Navi like Treble in any way." Said Arthur. "Simple logic, simple emotion. Nice when the two line up, huh?"

"Tsk, you don't have any trouble making tough choices and I know it." Said Denny. "Guess I shouldn't mock charity. Treble'll be back soon."

"Okay, if Denny is confident then I don't even need to worry." Said Arthur. "Have fun knocking Bass down a notch, guys." He joked.

The door opened, and Yuichiro leaned in. "Hey, does anyone know where Arthur is right now? Someone's here to see him."

"Hm? Who could that be?" Arthur turned, to see a vaguely familiar face next to Yuichiro. "Oh, uh, you're... I don't remember your first name, but Mr. Obihiro!"

"I'm younger than you. And it's Sean." Said the boy, a frown etched onto his face. "Do you remember who I am?"

"Erm... well, yes, but do you really want me to say that here?"

"No- but do you remember the warning I gave you?" Sean's tone had all kinds of danger written into it.

And in one moment of not-so-clear thought, Arthur went "No?"

Sean blinked slowly. "I told you, to your face, that you were NOT to try restoring his original form outside a closed server, which you did about an hour later. Not to let him get deleted, which happened a few days ago thanks in no small part to YOUR choices, and the very first thing I told you, because it was the most important thing- NOT TO LET HIM NEAR BASS!"

"J-Jeez, Sean, calm down!" Said Blaze. "You're never like this normally!"

Sean whirled. "I will not calm down! I trusted him not to do anything irresponsible and he went and did literally every single thing I warned him about!"

"I... didn't have a lot of choice in whether or not..." Started Arthur.

"You could have found alternatives!" Accused Sean. "And considering how Bass reacted to him, it's pretty clear they'd met before. When did they first interact? Can you imagine if this... Bass-Gospel hybrid was unleashed on the net before we conveniently had two cybeasts to warn him off?" Sean was angry enough that Arthur could have sworn there was steam coming off him. "Go on! When was it?"

Arthur sighed, and thought about it for a moment... "I think Bass came and found him... maybe two or three days after I got home? It might have been less?"

"For crying out loud! I initially came here to just vent my frustrations but **_What_**?! Do you even comprehend how insanely bad that would have been if he got absorbed there and then?!"

"...Sorry. I did do my best to protect him at all times, just... well, we were both new to this whole thing." Said Arthur.

Sean sighed. "...I could well have doomed us all by trusting you then."

Ethan shook himself out of moderate shock. "Look, buddy, I don't know who you are but can you lay off Arthur? It's been a tough few days and I can vouch that he was always a force for good. More than me, really."

Sean looked at Ethan. "Oh, you must be Ethan. This isn't how I wanted to make a first impression, but after finding out about those few stunts of Arthur's... ugh. I'm Sean Obihiro. You might have heard of me?"

"...Nope." Said Ethan. "And if you're going to try and use anything to win me over, then I don't accept money or fame as a substitute for being nice."

"Don't get the wrong impression about Sean." Said Blaze. "He's a good kid."

Sean shrugged. "I've said my part. I came down because I thought it had to be said. What's being done to resolve the fact that the navi that hates humanity more than anything else can now possibly match MegaMan?"

"We've been moving against him. We're currently gathering more power to take him on." Said Arthur.

Lan spoke up. "Bass actually... he seems a bit milder than before. I mean, he still wants to destroy humanity, but... I think that's actually started to become a bit of a secondary goal. By the sound of things he just wants to prove I'm wrong now. About bonds being the best thing there is."

"Huh. How things change..." Said Sean. "Is there any help I can offer you, Lan, Blaze?"

"Hmm..." Said Lan. "Nothing comes to mind. We should catch up later, I've barely been able to talk to you since you got out of hospital."

"That cross I got from you was a pretty big help." Said Blaze. "Although if you have any idea where to find..." She flicked through a library list on her PET, looking for missing entries. "This one?" She showed him her screen.

"I think that's... hm. That's AquaStage, you've probably seen it in shops and not bought it because you're a sensible person." Said Sean.

"I need the Standard mark. I'm not far away, but I need maybe... six new standard chips?" Explained Blaze. "Any advice?"

Sean shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Well... I... No, I know you can handle it. I know you were able to handle Nebula Area. If you head over the pottery shop and check the biggest urn, then there's a computer you can jack into inside the claywork- check the ancient soldier's eye. Only a tiny area inside that connects to nowhere, but there are some horribly strong viruses inside."

"I'll get to it. Thanks for the tip. Well, no time to waste, I guess!" Said Blaze. "Just you leave Arthur be for now, okay?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child... but okay, if you're all that sure he's not wrong."

"The least I can do is accept your anger." Said Arthur. "I really am sorry if I misused your trust."

Sean sighed. "You'll have to understand that trust isn't something easy for me to give. Although... you did at least try to protect him with everything, even your own life. Just this once... I'll let it go. But after this, then I'd like it if you didn't let him get deleted again!"

Arthur nodded. It was far from good relations, but Sean had voiced a lot of his own doubts even if he hadn't remembered Sean's warnings, and the others had defended him. That meant something.

 **Author's notes: I am free from the void, rejoice! I will continue to update on my completely random schedule. By the way, Sean really did give those warnings back in chapter four, to the attention of pretty much nobody, not even Lan.**

 **No reviews today. Maybe next time**.


	47. Chapter 47: Forwards

"New day, same mission." Said Arthur, stepping out of his room. "Denny, you up?"

"Have I ever not been?"

"True. How's everyone getting along with their standard mark? All I know is Blaze was out super late yesterday."

"She got it. Burn too, and Joe's still got a lot to do. Looks like he might not be able to keep pace, truthfully."

"Oh... well, I guess after not even having MathMan for a week then he might need a day to get back into battling in general properly."

"Mm. I think I'll have to lend him chips."

They walked down the corridor. "Didn't Crescendo say there was a shop in the second part of LastArea? Maybe if Alias or Gregar went ahead, then they could get something useful. And... do we know anything about how we'll be fighting Bass that I could have missed? The more I think about it, the more I realise he has the potential to really catch us off guard, with the leverage he has."

"Hmm... It's been on my mind, too. But we just don't know. I doubt he'll let us all fight him at once, but then again... it might be more effective to fight him in single duels, since Buster rake is honestly- well, the amount of guarding needed to protect ten navis? ProtoMan has a shield built-in, Lan and Ethan have the customisation parts, but Ember can't even use shields that well, and Ethan only has one part for three navis."

"...I'd better check with him and see if Grezar form works while Flare's like she is. That should be able to fight Bass pretty effectively."

"Hmm... Well, at least we know what to do for today. But still- any ideas where we can be useful? I'm an intelligence expert, but I don't really know what there is to gather for this."

"What about Beta? You could bring him into thi-"

"I could... but truthfully, he might not be able to overcome the trials. It's very rare I bond to anyone at all, so my synchro rate is abysmal. Combine that with his arrogance and the sheer power of even the viruses in there, and I wouldn't trust him to get past PharaohMan."

"Okay. Well, let's do what we can today."

* * *

The first thing Arthur noticed when everyone met up inside the room was a PET on the desk. It seemed vaguely familiar... Arthur sat down and turned on the screen. "Hello?"

"Oh, you're here early." Replied Falzar. "Flare convinced me to come and offer advice. I exist to destroy Gregar, but aside from that... it seems like my will is my own."

"Oh. Is... I suppose that's kind of good. It means there's only one thing for you to really try and overcome."

"And she brought in a few extra allies too. Perhaps they're not worthy to enter the area, but tactical and environmental advice can be useful."

"Um, who?"

"Amaterasu, of course, and also her retainer. And that mettaur she stashed power in once. And Midnight. They've actually been working to set up a link to the undernet, so you can all get to the LastArea in good shape."

Arthur felt a surge of gratitude for Flare. Even if she wasn't in fighting condition, she was easily being just as helpful as the dedicated battlers. "I'll really have to thank her..."

"She's doing it for Treble. Perhaps they haven't had all the time that it takes to make a great relationship, but they certainly care for each other with all they have." Remarked Falzar. There was something about her words...

"Are you... sad?"

"Never mind. The others will be here soon."

"Hey, you want me to operate you for now? I can't take you onto the main net, but you seem like you could use company."

"I'm not lonely, thanks."

"...Ok."

* * *

Everyone looked over either Ethan or Lan's shoulder as they went onwards into the second part of LastArea. Only MegaMan, Gregar and Alias were currently able to get past PharaohMan, but together that was enough firepower to wipe out a whole army of common viruses, so they felt reasonably safe in proceeding. This area was markedly different to the previous one. LastArea1 had a somewhat sinister orange background, and pathways made from cobbled undernet data. This time...

"This reminds me of the SecretArea." Said MegaMan. "The background is a bit more purple, and the pathway is smoother... but this is definitely modelled like it. It's so serene."

"I don't know." remarked Gregar. "Maybe it looks calm, but this energy about this place- it's like I'm being judged. And not in a good way."

"I'm going to take on PharaohMan now." Announced Chaud. "Blaze, Burn, you watch and observe his attack patterns. You ought to be able to take him down quite easily."

"Flare, how are you going to proceed?" Said SheepMan. "I'm unsure it would be wise for you to fight someone that powerful as you are."

"I'LL FIND A WAY."

"I think that's the shop Crescendo mentioned up ahead... simple enough to access, but good grief, look at that maze ahead." Said Alias.

"Oof, that's a nasty one." Agreed Ethan. "...Damn, we're definitely going to have to find a way to get Flare past PharaohMan."

"Let's check out the shop first. I wonder who was crazy enough to set up a shop in a place like here." Said Arthur.

Lan chuckled. "I've found them in crazier places. There's one in the WWW area, there's one in Nebula area, even one in the graveyard. Not sure why, but maybe it's to make sure they don't have to waste time with people who can't afford their goods?"

"Oh. Expensive?"

"You bet. But also rare." Said Lan. "Let's go check this out."

Arthur leaned over to look at Chaud, ProtoMan leaving PharaohMan on the floor. Ember tentatively stepped through the barrier. SteamMan followed. "We'll challenge you together." He declared. "If you'll allow it."

"Very well. Allow me to repair my damage!" Said PharaohMan, sinking into the floor.

Flare landed in front of the gate. "GOOD LUCK!"

Ember cracked her knuckles, and her visor slid down. "Let's do this."

Arthur was about to watch the battle, when Ethan made an odd squeak sound. "Ethan?"

"Check out this shop!" Said Ethan incredulously. "What even is half of this?"

Arthur looked over. "Okay... that's quite a selection. If a bit expensive. Looks like all the intercontinental chips."

"Excalibur, BugAura, BlessedLight, AbsorbShield, UnifyCode, Muramasa, BugCurse, SuperVulcan, Uninstall, and Guardian." Said Ethan. "Huh. Never knew SuperVulcan was only made here. It's always been a favourite of mine, given how you can put DoublePoint on it and obliterate everything in your way."

"You should try DoublePoint with the Bass chip." Said Lan. "It's even more powerful."

"Bass has a chip? Oh yeah, BassAnomaly." Said Arthur.

"Two, actually." Said Lan, taking out a chip. "See?" He showed Arthur a normal Bass giga chip. "Anomaly is really good because the wheels pierce enemies and deal more damage on their own, but this is nearly impossible to avoid and if you put any kind of damage increase on it... then it's all over."

"Nice idea, Lan!" Shouted Blaze, operating. Arthur took a look over to see SteamMan blast a ratton to bits with a careful jet of steam, as Ember zoomed around the field at mach pace, desperately staying ahead of a rotating laser. Blaze took out a giga chip, before grabbing a WhiteCapsule. "Here we go, Ember!"

"My fighting spirit burns!" Replied Ember. She dived forwards, folding in her blades to dodge a coffin and then extending an elbow just in time to knock a surprised PharaohMan back. " **Full Synchro!** "

Blaze's eyes narrowed, and she slotted in the chips with surgical precision. " **BassAnomaly, WhiteCapsule!** "

A copy of normal Bass appeared, and charged for a second before four Hell'sRolling rings surged out from his hands, blowing his cloak back. Each one slammed PharaohMan, and he seemed to stiffen more, if such a thing were possible. SteamMan ran forwards, heavy on his feet, and followed through with a powerful punch that flattened PharaohMan- but he got back up immediately.

"I have yet to grant you passage- Anubis will take you!" A coffin outright parried Ember's finishing blow, and a laser forced SteamMan back as a small obsidian statue appeared, spewing purple gas.

Ember made a spitting noise. "Need to destroy that!"

"I can't send chips yet!" Said Blaze. "Burn, go!"

"GolemHit!"

A tremendous stone fist punched down, and crushed the Anubis statue to dust as a hieroglyph exploded behind the two navis. Ember was floored, as a ratton charged towards her, but didn't despair. The thrusters on her back fired, grinding her mask along the floor with a stream of sparks until she slammed a palm into the ground and turned off the thrusters, vaulting upwards. Perhaps a human would have broken an arm from the forces, but Ember was fine as she was sent into the skies, and came down, somersaulting into a downwards strike. It hit a coffin, but the blade was glowing red, and to PharaohMan's surprise it took a chunk out of the coffin. It sparked, falling down, as the other one rushed to a forwards position to try and guard.

Blaze smirked. "Now I've got you. DeltaRay!"

"Y-you've already used a gigachip this fight!" Said Chaud.

ProtoMan appeared, a near-perfect copy. He crouched for just a millisecond, before there was a flash, and three momentary red blurs around PharaohMan. A pure white triangle glowed around him, and PharaohMan fell over with a 'Thunk', flashing.

"Someone gave us a GigaFolder part for those BBS requests. Five star requests are something, huh?" Smiled Blaze. "Ember, you okay to continue?"

Ember's mask rolled up, and she inspected herself for damages. "...I've taken much worse than this. Let's keep going."

SteamMan grunted in concern. "You won't hold anything against me if I head back for now? Those lasers did some real damage."

"You go heal." Said Arthur. "I don't want anyone getting deleted."

Flare flapped her wings once, jumping forwards to face PharaohMan. "HOW TO DO THIS..."

"Do you not believe you are able to defeat me? The other of the legendary cybeasts was able to best me quite easily." Said PharaohMan. "Of course... your failure will end in deletion- if you are unworthy, then do not attempt to enter your tomb."

"IF I JUST HAD MY FULL POWER... OR EVEN NINETY PERCENT. ONCE I HAVE ENOUGH, THEN I SHOULD GO FROM WEAK TO POWERFUL ALMOST INSTANTLY."

Falzar seemed to contemplate. "I... I am willing to fight in your place."

"WHAT?"

"I'll fight him myself. If I'm deleted, you can regenerate the power. If I'm not... then Gregar can quite easily delete me when I only have 25% power."

"YOU CAN'T THROW YOURSELF AWAY FOR ME!" Flare looked ahead. "THERE'S ANOTHER WAY. GREGAR, YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS, RIGHT? CAN... CAN WE..."

"Hey, I can barely hear you over here." Said Gregar, from another computer. "...But just do it. I said before, I don't intend to start losing to you now."

"ARTHUR!" Called Flare. "SEND FALZAR INTO THE NET."

"Guys, I don't mean to sound like I don't trust you, but are you absolutely sure about this, both of you? It can't be easily undone." Said Arthur.

"Yeah, let's just plan ahead a little bit. Falzar, is it possible for you to... delay your going after Gregar, once you combine with Flare?" Said Ethan.

Falzar made a grumbling sound. "You tell me, Flare. can you be absolutely certain that I'll have the chance to try and delete him in the future?"

"YES. IT'S CERTAIN."

"Then I can delay things... a little. You'll all have to work to get through this area quickly. Now, enough time's been wasted here."

Arthur carefully held the device. "Okay. Here we go... Connecting to the net."

Flare started flickering. "FALZAR, TO ME!"

Falzar started to flicker too. "I didn't expect to react to your presence this strongly." Then she vanished.

Flare inhaled deeply, like her heart was suddenly fine-tuned and her body perfected. She glowed, before shrinking. "At last... feels good to be a navi again."

Her palette swapped, hair turning blonde and suit red. "You'd better press on, Flare. I won't hold back forever. Unless you'd like me to handle the fight?"

She shifted back to brown hair and a light-blue suit. "This is my fight. PharaohMan, are you ready? I'll sweep the floor with you."

"...I see you are ready to face your death." Said PharaohMan.

Flare transformed. But she was no longer the bird barely able to fly. With her missing self restored, her power was working once again, and the air around her started to charge and whirl in reaction to her. "I WILL NOT FAIL!" The winds kept building.

Ethan went into his pocket for chips, but as he brought them up his PET beeped. Arthur looked over his shoulder and saw a sudden text message. 'We've got this. Just watch'. It was from Falzar. Apparently she could still text without control of her body now.

Apparently Flare shared that confidence, as when the first of the two coffin-shaped cannons opened, she was out of the way of the laser quickly enough that it was like it had been aimed by a potato. A blind potato, at that. A volley of tremendous featherlike missiles rocketed down, slamming into the front of a coffin. Most snapped or shattered on impact, leaving glowing marks where they impacted, and one or two glanced off. It was at this point that Arthur realised why Falzar had so much confidence in her ability to beat PharaohMan alone- her flight completely negated the ratton and Anubis attacks, and the coffins were meant to block ground attacks. The lasers weren't that hard to dodge, and without all the ratton drones chasing then there was nothing to actually distract from dodging the lasers or hieroglyphs.

"This is going to be one-sided." Said Arthur plainly.

Flare swooped up, easily avoiding the lasers, and then with one mighty wingbeat sent a pair of glowing green pulses of energy, the boomerangs curving around to either side of PharaohMan. He shifted his coffins to block them, and was instantly struck by another feather missile. And as he returned his coffins to a frontal position Flare dropped down and let loose a breath storm, winds passing straight through the coffins and blasting PharaohMan once again.

"DID YOU THINK I WOULD BE SUCH A PUSHOVER?" That was Falzar speaking. "I EXPECTED BETTER." She shifted back, running forwards as her colours changed back to Flare.

Flare kicked off from the ground, easily clearing the coffins with her wings, and thrust her hands out, calling on her whirlpool attack. Water appeared in a swirling vortex around PharaohMan, whisking him round and round, and in desperation he launched a ratton. Flare deflected it with her aura, and charged power to her hands before dashing forwards, and raking them across PharaohMan with gale force. PharaohMan went down, clattering to the floor. "Surrender!" Commanded Flare. "I've won."

PharaohMan rolled over. "I... concede. Go forth." He seemed to breathe out. "My duty has concluded... now I shall return to my slumber." He sunk into the floor.

"Onwards." Said Flare, passing into the next area.

* * *

With an aerial view, it was far easier to navigate the maze. Aside from one particularly nasty section with warps. But nonetheless, it wasn't too difficult to get through the maze. Everyone came up to a door.

"What does it want?" Said Chaud, as ProtoMan walked up.

MegaMan went through. "Um... Not sure. You try?"

ProtoMan tried to unlock the gate. "...It wants me to have the mega collector mark. Chaud, we have enough of the common mega-class chips for that mark, but you must have at least ten SP chips- we don't."

"Oh, no..." Said Ember. "We're nowhere near that achievement. Burn, what about you?"

"Not close."

Ethan was going through his packs. "I have... it doesn't count a navi's own SP chip, right?"

"No." Supplied Joe.

"Okay, then I have the SP chips for my 3 navis, 2 each, and... Midnight, Zero, Treble, Decibel... Ugh, why did it have to be SP?"

"Maybe..." Mused Arthur. "Joe, Blaze. If neither of you think you can get this door open, then... you could give Ethan the four more chips he'll need to get that door open."

Blaze nodded. "Burn, if you wouldn't mind?"

Burn nodded. "I suppose this'll give you quite a complete collection."

Joe looked back to William. William was already going through his pockets. Joe turned back. "I guess it's overdue anyway. You've shown that you're trustworthy. Here." He dropped a chip into Ethan's hands.

Blaze passed over two chips. "You don't even have the EX ones... make sure you come and challenge me once we get through this."

William carefully threw the last one over. "It's my duty as a friend."

Ethan briefly put each of them into the PETs he was using. "...We're down to only four navis that can proceed now. At least MegaMan is strong. Can the four of you succeed?"

"Hey, you're used to three." Pointed out Alias. "With MegaMan here, then things should still be good."

There was a thundering boom. "Jinxed it." Deadpanned Gregar, turning to look at the arena ahead. Flare landed next to the other three, as they looked at a portal forming.

Bass floated out, still in his new form. "...Are your bonds still all you thought they were? Many of your allies cannot help you now."

"Hmph. Those bonds you make fun of just got us the SP chips we needed to get in here." Said Alias.

"I know that." Responded Bass. The navis couldn't see it thanks to the cloak, but from the NetOp's angle then you could make out a twisted smile. "In fact, I was counting on it."

"We're fighting you now?" Said Gregar. "What about those other two areas?"

"You're not fighting me now." Four more portals opened behind Bass. "This is the next guardian- personalised for each of you- I can't have you holding back against me just because I have Treble. Rest assured... they'll return to normal once you log them out." He held a hand up, and purple energy wreathed it for a moment before there was a flash, and Bass disappeared. The portals remained, now glowing with bright purple energy.

"That doesn't sound good." Said Flare.

Gregar stepped forwards. "Bring it on!" He challenged. A barrier formed behind him, and three of the portals dimmed. The one which was still glowing glowed brighter, and crackled and finally, somebody stepped out. Gregar suddenly lost his air of confidence. He was far from fear or lack of resolve, but it was like he'd been slapped. "No..."

"..." White armour, tinged with red. Now all also shaded purple. An elegant posture, but not fragile. A scarf, no longer blowing in a digital wind. A disc floating behind her. And a blank expression.

"What has he done to you... when did he do this?!"

"..." Amaterasu drew her sword, and the disc behind her started to burn with blue fire, instead of the normal red.

"I am going to kill Bass when I get my hands on him." Declared Gregar. "Alright... I can do this! Ammy, sorry!" Gregar dropped into a fighting stance.

Amaterasu formed her buster, the ice effect no longer as prominent, and fired a few shots at Gregar. He raised his aura, deflecting them harmlessly, before starting to move forwards. Amaterasu swapped to a lance, and started to focus power to it before she jumped forwards, and brought it down in a powerful overhead swing, as if she were going to drive the tip into the ground. It sparked against the aura, then with a thunderclap, Gregar was knocked back a step as his aura faded, before he counterattacked with a punch- not his claws, but a punch.

"Gregar, you have to win to save her! Don't hold back!" Said Ethan. "Here's FastGuage and Reflector3. No Accelerate now, so don't get cornered!"

Gregar crouched, before lunging forwards and making a powerful swipe- but this time his attack was knocked aside by the sun disc, which Amaterasu was now weilding like a buckler. She twirled her spear around and slammed the sharp edge of the tip into Gregar's side, but Gregar simply tried to disarm her rather than flinch. Amaterasu let go, and jumped back while letting out a hail of ice shots from her buster. Gregar raised the Reflector, knocking her down.

"Meteors, Attack plus 30, Uninstall! SunAndMoon!" Called Ethan.

Gregar charged, lightning enveloping him as he thundered towards Amaterasu. The spear reappeared in her hands, and she thrust it straight towards him only for it to be knocked aside. She barely had time to move her buckler in front of her before Gregar hit, sending her tumbling back. But her shield was now burning with flames, and before Gregar could initiate the SunMoon attack, he was hit with enough force to almost flatten him despite his SuperArmor, flames exploding everywhere as the Sun disc slammed into his chest like a frisbee. Amaterasu was capable of combining her attacks, and before the fire cleared enough for him to see, a huge icicle froze his feet to the ground, and he saw Amaterasu jump high into the air, preparing to spear him. He tensed, waiting until the last split second, and then fired a TailArrow.

"Don't. Die." He said clearly.

The arrow knocked her out of the sky, even as she tried to deflect it with the handle of her spear. She tried to get up and run, and fell over, one of her legs bugged out and not responding properly. Red Sun appeared over Gregar's head, and she raised her shield in preparation, before Gregar ran forwards, tackling it to the side as the meteors slammed into both of them, before the Blue Moon laser burned her, and finally, in one giant blast, the whole satellite crashed down.

Gregar coughed. "Ammy!" He turned to see Amaterasu on the floor, damaged but intact.

"Not... bad." Said Amaterasu. She tried to get up, but was struggling to move.

"I didn't want to hurt you like that. Just-"

"You had no choice. Besides, I'm fine. I just need a few repairs." Said Amaterasu. "I was in Scilabs, when a portal opened beneath me... and the next thing I know, I'm not in control of myself."

"Bass..." Growled Gregar. "This crosses the line. I'm not going to let this stand."

"Stay safe, okay? Now... uhh... I could use somewhere to jack out to, for the moment." Said Amaterasu.

"I have an empty PET here. I'll take her to Yuichiro for repairs, the rest of you can push on." Offered Arthur. "...Okay, ready to recieve you."

Amaterasu nodded. "See you later, Gregar." She logged out, appearing in Arthur's PET.

* * *

"Hmm, most of these are quick fixes, but there's a bug in her left leg that might need a few hours." Yuichiro opened up a repair program that looked twice as complicated as anything Arthur could imagine.

"...You know, your son is really great man." Said Arthur, as Yuichiro started to repair Amaterasu. "He's just... so... so selfless? No, that doesn't even cover half of it."

Yuichiro chuckled. "Ah, Lan. He really is something else, isn't he? I couldn't be prouder of him."

"Rightfully so. Perhaps me and Ethan are strong battlers, but he's stronger than either of us, on top of the fact that he's probably younger than us AND he's in the position to revolutionise the net with the research I've heard about."

"Don't sell yourselves short. Your willingness to sacrifice what you have for the sake of others saved Lan from being the one in this position right now, and I couldn't be more grateful for that. And Ethan- well, you know those NetGaia pins?"

"Vaguely?"

"Wily took one of them apart, and they're made entirely out of off-the-shelf parts that have been massively processed into parts that should have needed far more advanced machinery to create. His skills are only second to Wily. And you probably stopped him going to jail."

"...I guess I did. But still, I think I owe Lan for the lengths he's gone to for me."

"No worries. How's your conquest into the LastArea going? Me and Wily have been trying to get the work that built up under control, so I haven't been able to be with you too much..."

"It's going well, honestly. Nobody has come too close to being deleted, and we're making good progress."

"Wonderful!"

"Um, oh, but you should probably be ready to repair three more navis." Said Arthur. "Bass sort of... kidnapped them."

"Ah. I'll get prepared. Maybe you should go and ferry the next one up?"

* * *

"Okay, here I am, any more Navis that need a repair?"

"Only one." Said Chaud. "Lan was able to just break Bass' hold on Roll. Midnight was less lucky."

"I didn't... mean to..." Midnight was trying to prop herself up on her scythe.

"Shush, Midnight. You're too damaged to stand." Coaxed Alias. "...I hope Flare's opponent isn't too bad."

"I'll get Midnight to safety." Said Arthur. "PET connected."

Midnight appeared within.

Flare looked ahead. "If he's going to make me fight someone I care about... well, that would be Treble. None of the others can hope to beat me."

"Yes." Whispered a voice. "But..."

Flare walked forwards. The portal crackled. Arthur was moving to leave the room, but hesitated. _I'll just see who it is..._

A mettaur fell out. Flare looked up to the portal murderously. "You dare!?"

Arthur left the room. Surely one mettaur couldn't cause that many problems...

* * *

He came back in to see Flare inside her PET, panting. "Oh... you're back." She sighed.

"Did... the mettaur do this?" Asked Arthur.

Ethan nodded. "Hey, we modified it to defend itself. A lot."

"Where is it now?"

"Gregar locked it in his PET."

Joe looked over to the computer. "Any idea where the next arena is?"

"Nope. The enemy here're tough..." Gregar was actually in fairly bad shape, body littered with damages. "I can beat any virus, but they just keep coming, and they're far faster than I'm used to!"

"We're getting good chips though!" Countered Alias, blasting a nearby enemy. "Plus we could come back here for the virus breeder! All of these enemies are so rare!"

Arthur got closer, to see the background of the area. "...Hmm... Purple, and the pathways look like they're made of loads of bugfrags."

"It's just cosmetic." Said Lan. "I think this place is based on Nebula area. Hopefully without the liberation missions, I wouldn't want to try one with three navis."

"Uh, liberation missions?"

"You weren't there, don't worry about it." Supplied Blaze. "Ugh, I'm bummed that I can't get in there and help out. Maybe we should try breaking the door down?"

"Hmm... Lan, I see something glowing over there. It might be the door?"

"Can you get to it?"

"I can." Said Gregar. "I've had enough of playing along with Bass' stupid area after he pulled that fight on me." He stepped forwards, transforming and stepping right over the maze in front of him. "SCREW YOU, BASS. I'M COMING FOR YOUR COWARDLY BACKSIDE!" He yelled forwards.

"Don't get reckless. You need to recover your strength, maybe get used to this area a little." Advised Arthur. "A few extra hours of waiting won't kill me, or Treble."

"Agreed." Said Joe. "You're approaching your limit. Just find out what the door wants, and come back for the moment."

Gregar walked up. "...GIGA COLLECTOR ACHIEVEMENT, AND THE OFFICIAL STAR! WOW, SUCKS TO BE EMBER. GOOD THING YOU DIDN'T PUT IN ALL THAT EFFORT ONLY TO GET STUCK HERE."

"I've got the star." Said Blaze. "After the Nebula stuff."

"Uhh... that's five, or six Giga chips? Probably not counting your own ones, again." Said Ethan. "Let's see... CBGregar, CBFlare even if I traded it away, GSTreble, BlackBarrier, HubBatch, CrossDivide... That's six, why don't I have the achievement on Alias's PET?"

"You never registered BlackBarrier with me." Said Alias. "Cause, y'know... I can't use it."

"Oh, right. Well, then I can get you through, but what about Gregar and Flare?" Said Ethan.

"You can borrow my chips, as long as I get them back once we have Treble. What do want?" Offered Arthur. "I have BugCharge, BugRiseSword, CBFlare and FolderBack."

"BugCharge is a pretty good single-target nuke." Said Ethan. He reached out to take it before hesitating. "But FolderBack... Ooh..."

"Take your time. Or both chips. It's not like I'm losing them permanently." Shrugged Arthur. "What matters to me is that you succeed." For a fleeting moment Arthur realised that was a very parental thing to say, before refocusing on the task at hand. "Oh yeah, and do you have NorthWind? You need to open the fight with Bass using that, for sure."

"I don't need NorthWind, Flare has it incorporated into her breath weapon. I'll take the FolderBack. Getting an extra SuperVulcan off should be nice." Said Ethan, picking up the chip. "Well, come back for now, Gregar." He held the PET out to the side.

"YEAH, Yeah. I'll be fine in a few moments. Just got caught off guard by how stupid fast they all are in there." Muttered Gregar. "Mega, how are you holding up?"

"Only Roll calls me that." Said MegaMan. "Not that you can't, it's just... weird? Anyway, I'm fine. It's not that much worse than the Graveyard, just- woah! Lots of different attack patterns." He returned fire, deleting a virus.

"Let's all go get lunch. Once we come back, we can take a shot at the last guardian, and then it's onto Bass." Said Arthur. "Come on, we could all use some time outside."

 **Author's notes: So much fighting, blahhh...And two more next chapter, which will conclude Ethan's 'postgame' arc and wrap up Arthur's. Blaze is getting an arc last, but over what... that remains to be seen.  
**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RushAlias: Yes, that's correct. Don't feel bad about not reviewing, although I do value getting them no matter what.**


	48. Chapter 48: Showdown

Arthur looked up as a cloud covered the sun, grateful for the cover. It was about half past twelve, and the sun had been like an oven. With the exception of Chaud, who'd slipped off to probably do work, everyone was wandering through the city.

"Sushi place?" Suggested Ethan.

"Curry place." Said Lan, smiling.

"I'm not that hungry, I might just go and get an ice cream. Summer is ending, after all." Said Arthur.

"There's a diner about ten minutes away that should have whatever you're looking for." Offered Denny. "Unless any of the navis have good suggestions?"

"Green town is just a short bus trip away. We could go and try that soup place." Said Ember.

"Hey, don't look at me, I was too busy fighting to go and get information on where you could have lunch. I can't just travel through time and do everything." Protested Alias.

"Ditto." Said Gregar.

"Um... what about the mall?" Said Flare.

"Nah, I think the diner is the right choice." Said Arthur. "Lead the way."

* * *

They all sat around the table, waiting for food to arrive. "...You know, I really am grateful for what you've done for me, guys." Said Arthur. "A lot of people would have been scared off by Bass."

"Hey, you set a pretty good example to follow when it comes to bravery." Said Ethan. "Besides, it's personal now. I don't look kindly on people who go after my friends."

"I wonder what the next guardian will be like?" Said Blaze.

"Well, PharaohMan was always tied to the WWW, and the SecretArea... well, that place was always dubiously on the side of good sometimes, so I guess fighting friends there makes some sense. If this place is kind of like someone took Black Earth and Nebula Area and smashed them together... I guess we'll be fighting some kind of darkness-based enemy."

Flare's palette swapped to Falzar. Her wings were more orange, compared to the pink Flare had taken a liking to. "Is there any specific technique for purging darkness?"

"Normal fighting works well enough, although if you have some of chips that were made as part of the Django franchise then they do double damage."

"Oh, I think Ammy actually gave me some of those. She collects them." Ethan went into his pocket. "See. GunDelSol3, and Django."

"That's two thirds of an advance." Said Blaze.

"Wait, WHAT?" Said Ethan. "But I know all the advances! It's the one thing I really tried to know everything about!"

"She's right." Confirmed Lan. "Two GunDelSol3's, and Django or DjangoSP. It makes an advance called Piledriver."

"Isn't that a wrestling move?" Said Denny. "This is the first I've heard of this too..."

"I'll have to find out what it progresses to." Said Ethan. "...Once I get another GunDelSol3. Maybe Ammy will lend me one? Although I'm borrowing too many chips right now. I might forget to give one back."

"Oh, food's here." Noted Arthur.

* * *

"Okay, is everyone refreshed? I think it's time to finish this. Today." Said Chaud. "Ethan, Lan. Remember that you can count on each other. Proceed with caution."

"You got it!" Said Lan, as the four navis went through the Undernet.

"This place seems so... tame, after the LastArea." Said Gregar. "And the Undernet makes the regular net look tame."

"Well, you're still the biggest virus there is." Said Alias. "Give it some time and you can probably make everything in that place fear you, too."

"Eh, I don't know. I don't really want to spend another few years living in a place like that just to make a bunch of viruses scared of me."

Chaud looked to Ethan. "Do you think it's possible to make sure Bass doesn't flee this fight? I don't want a repeat of the original cybeast fight."

"Um... Explain?" Said Blaze.

Flare looked back. "When Falzar and Gregar first fought... well, even if they're much stronger than anything else on the net, especially at the time, they probably could have killed each other after maybe... ten minutes of conflict? But they were wary fighters. Gregar always had an escape route, Falzar always had an exit strategy. Part of the reason the net got so utterly wrecked was because Gregar kept needing to eat things to heal himself, and so did Falzar, sort of. And then they'd fight until they had to fall back again, and repeat, until they became trapped in the underground and I- they, couldn't retreat."

"Oh. Okay, well, that makes sense." Said Ethan. "I'll try not to let him get away."

They approached Crescendo. "We're ready." Said MegaMan.

Crescendo nodded. "I'll come and watch your showdown. Fight on." He said steadily.

"We will." Said Alias.

* * *

They approached the door. Everyone was able to pass through easily enough. "...Do you think that was the last one?" Said MegaMan. "After all, there's nothing above a Giga chip.

"Hope so." Gregar stepped forwards. "Alright Bass! I'm coming for you!"

The area dimmed. A darkness gathered before the four adventurers, tangible, and to some, familiar. And then a voice rang out. "I... Cursed... Him... Yet..."

"Grey." Snarled Gregar, recognising the whispered tone. "I'm gonna rip your tongue out and shove it so far down your throat that next time you try and tell one of your lies it really will come out of your arse."

Alias snickered. "Okay, we can take this guy." He dropped into a fighting stance.

"You... will defeat yourself!" Retorted Nebula Gray.

"Clear your minds." Said Lan. "He feeds on your negative emotions."

Gregar suddenly clutched his chest. "Urgh... It's like there's something... like oil... in my blood." He didn't have blood, but it got the point across. Then a cluster of wispy shadows burst out of him, gathering into a ball, and rapidly taking shape.

Flare cried out in pain as the same happened. "This is... darkness." She stood steady, and prepared to fight. Alias too was faced by a ball of shadows. Only MegaMan was unaffected.

The shadows finally took shape. Gregar stared into a copy of himself, eyes red but devoid of intelligence. "...It's my DarkSoul." Said Gregar.

"Everyone... has darkness within." Said Nebula Gray. "Some more than others... your rage... will be your... undoing..."

Gregar spat at his copy. "The darkness inside me can get stuffed. I'll never give in when I have my friends and family to fight for."

Flare spread her wings. Her darksoul seemed less solid than Gregar's, as if drained. "I take no joy from fighting when anything depends on it. I will save Treble- that's all."

Alias nodded. "And I'm with you guys till the end." He cracked his knuckles. "Always wondered what it would be like to fight myself."

MegaMan looked forwards. Grey stepped forwards, revealing what was left of himself. His gauntlets and boots were damaged, the swirling mass of black fire that had made his body thin and reedy, and chains fractured. "...I've already faced down the darkness inside me. But I won't allow you to just make life hell for navis."

"Battle routine, set!"

"Locked and coded."

"Execute!"

"Ya-hoo!"

Ethan watched carefully for just a few seconds, trying to establish that all three DarkSouls fought like their real counterparts. Gregar was already locked in combat with himself, his apparently the toughest of the three opponents- strong, fast and most annoyingly completely and utterly disregarding it's own safety to fight like a berserker. Like Gregar. Gregar parried, and then blew fire over the copy, which used SuperArmor to press on and punch him in the mouth. He bit down, and actually threw the DarkSoul, with a toss of his head. Arthur realised he'd been watching too closely, as Flare and Alias were already duelling with their weaker opponents. Ethan selected the chips he wanted.

"Let's do this- Gregar, DoublePoint, SuperVulcan! Flare, IceSeed, TrainArrow3! Alias... CornFiesta."

Gregar traded claw strikes, scoring a strong hit on his opponent's face while taking a vicious blow to his shoulder. But then the chips hit. Before he could react, his DarkSoul pulled out an identical SuperVulcan. Gregar realised he couldn't dodge, but didn't waste his own. The barrage of damage cascaded against his front, and the paralysis spread through him quickly- but it didn't stay long enough to end the fight, and as the DarkSoul jumped forwards to try and hit with a bite, and Gregar dropped to his knees and thrust the vulcan upwards, hitting the copy in the gut just as it discharged, the blast of tremendous damage lifting the DarkSoul up. The Vulcan stopped, and Gregar sparked before using the LightningRush to leap and slam it even higher, before landing and transforming, and biting down on the falling DarkSoul. It wasn't swallowed, but when it got free and hit the floor it wasn't in good shape.

Flare's DarkSoul wasn't doing any better at all- Iris had never been one to invite darkness, and Flare had taken that trait. If she'd wanted to, she could have simply physically overpowered it, but had instead opted to make it look bad while destroying it in combat, the icy statue hitting the floor just in time for her to transform and drive a feather missile through it.

Alias was struggling more, as the two walked tensely around each other, wary of the sheer power of the advance they were holding. It was a western duel. One shot to decide it all. Timing was everything. The DarkSoul drew. Alias drew. Corn to corn. There was a blast, a continuous explosion of yellow-green fire and electricity. The DarkSoul was floored, wasting the attack. And Alias knew what to do.

"Easy enough! Gregar, Muramasa! Flare, Excalibur! Alias, here are two more CornShots. Progress to CornHarvest!"

Alias brought up the corn gun. It was just a little different- as if someone had taken a marker pen and drawn a pair of frowny eyebrows on the googly-eyes. For some reason that made it more terrifying than most of the serious weaponry carried by the group. Suddenly, the GrassPanels generated by the previous attack seemed to be sucked in, and as the gun started blasting out a torrent of light-green orbs of death Arthur realised it had turned into a grass HolyDream. The DarKSoul didn't stand a chance.

Gregar was swordfighting with his copy, but it was clear that even if they were equal in speed and strength, Gregar was smarter, and with one quick-calculated feint, he was able to make a focused slash, the blade cutting through everything in its way like air. His DarkSoul was defeated, exploding into a puff of smoke.

Flare held her sword high, and brought it down in one swift strike.

MegaMan lowered his buster, with nothing left before it. "..."

"I... didn't expect it would be that easy to fight something like darkness itself." Said Alias.

"Having things to fight for- PEOPLE to fight for. That makes a pretty big difference." Said MegaMan. "Darkness tempts you when you're weak, but if your friends are there to give you strength?"

"Simple enough." Agreed Gregar. He inspected the damage. "Anyone got FullEnergy? We're right on Bass' doorstep- I don't want to stop now."

"Here." Said Lan, passing Ethan the chip. "Once you're ready, then let's go."

Gregar sighed as the damage repaired itself. Flare and Alias's damages had been fairly superficial, compared to Gregar's getting caught off-guard by one of the most renowned combos in the digital world. "Ready. Flare? Alias?"

"Ready."

"Good to go."

"Okay..." MegaMan walked forwards, out of the area.

* * *

The last part of the LastArea was surprisingly simple. Purple tiles made of some kind of crystal, perfectly flat and uniform. Only two platforms- a small one the team was standing on, and stairs leading down to a huge one. There was no barrier in the way. The background was a similar purple, like a sky completely blanketed in clouds. It was simple and undistracting. The team walked forwards, and a blue portal opened in front of them. Crescendo stepped out.

"I'm just here to watch. I imagine this'll be quite the fight." He said. "...But also, I need to tell you. Bass will only accept a challenge against MegaMan or the combined form of Alias and the cybeasts."

"If we win will he let Treble go?" Said Flare.

"...Yes." Said Crescendo. "Actually..." He trailed off. "Nevermind. Be prepared. You are to bear witness to a power that overwhelms all." He stood out of the way.

"...Who first?" Asked Arthur. "...I suppose... I mean, Bass might not spare you if he wins, so..."

"We'll handle this." Said Ethan. "Lan, if we fail- then it's not your fault."

"Good luck..." Said Lan.

Blaze nodded. "You can do it."

Alias led the way down the stairs, into the huge arena. Bass was waiting in the middle, dark gray cloak still, and head fins imposing. The lights were dim, and it was hard to see the fine details on him like before, but there was no mistaking the feeling he was giving off. Even away from the computer, Arthur could feel the raw power. Alias walked up calmly nonetheless. Ethan shared that calm, gazing at his target. Eventually, they stood before him.

Bass looked Alias dead in the eyes. "...This is it. I will show you the limitations of bonds. I will prove that humanity is inferior."

Alias stared back, gaze as piercing as Falzar's, and strong as Gregar's. "I will protect my friends with everything I have. You've hurt them more than I can begin to express, Bass. I don't know if I can ever truly forgive that- but either way, I doubt you'd want me to. So... I will have to show you the worth of humans." He started to levitate away from the floor, as did Gregar and Flare. Arthur realised it was Flare manipulating the winds to achieve that, as Bass's cloak started to flap dramatically. Bass rose too, and they faced each other.

"Bury your hopes now!" Commanded Bass, as his cloak was blown back enough to part, displaying the mark and scar on his chest. "For they are already dead!"

Gregar and Flare were replaced with burning souls, the two great spirits surrounding Alias in their original forms. "Hope..." Alias posed, the power surging through him, turning his armour white. The two souls moved into him, and he sprouted wings and a tail, his helmet and armour design becoming something else, majestic and fierce. "Will NEVER die!" He flashed forwards fast as a blink, attack bouncing off the aura Bass projected.

"...Mushin at 50%. Sending Northwind, and a cursor chip. Convert to LaserRay." Said Ethan. Arthur took a look, seeing the name of Bass' form on the PET screen: FullBassGS

Bass moved erratically and with measured speed, carefully tracking Grezar as he zipped around. Northwind started to blow, and he just smirked. His aura crackled, weakening under the harsh winds, and then Grezar held still for just a moment to fire the LaserRay, the thin beam missing him by a hair's width, as he zoomed up, and struck Grezar in the chest with what had previously been his Darkness blade, now purple and curled like a claw. Grezar's own aura deflected it, but the force was enough to move them down a little. Bass didn't even charge before unleashing the feared BusterRake, and that alone was enough to break down Grezar's aura- with a quick dash of power from the wings, Grezar was far out of the way, coming around in an arc, building speed.

"75%, Sword chip and Program advance! Convert to TrueBlade and TheEnd!"

Grezar held the rod of light forwards and accelerated more, dashing straight for Bass. Bass kept firing, and with a mind-bending twist and roll in the air Grezar was right in front of him, jabbing the sword forwards and clashing with the Dark claw, every strike faster than Arthur could follow, clashing and sparking constantly, until with one decisive thrust Grezar stabbed straight into the chest of BassGS, only to see the sword shatter.

"Iron skin." Arthur said. It was an ability he'd seen all too often before.

Grezar looked prepared to unleash the advance, but Ethan murmured. "Wait... 95... Mushin achieved."

Grezar looped back, and held a hand up a great pillar of white light rained down, and the area brightened, the harsh light whirling around. This attack wasn't direct, it was an area-changer. Bolts of harsh white energy started to shoot from all around, homing in on Bass. He deflected one with his sword, before charging, with energy cloaking him, the attacks eating into the shroud as he flew forwards. Grezar didn't seem to be making any attempt to move out of the way.

" **ShatteringImpact!** " Just in time.

Grezar went from a standstill to full speed in a flash, and flew into Bass with incredible force, boosted a lot by the Mushin technique. But instead of one plowing through, both of them were thrown away in an explosion, Grezar quickly using their buster to fire a storm of shots into the smoke, as a BusterRake came through, a few shots finding their marks.

" **SilverWind, TrueBlade, LaserRay!** "

Bass came flying out of the smoke, and just above Grezar. He was charging an attack, and in an attempt to avoid Grezar flew backwards, down towards the earth while firing the SilverWind up at Bass. Bass held an arm forwards and Treble's head appeared on it, letting out a blast of fire, the colour changing as it surged down and hit, burning with elemental damage. Arthur was about to despair when Grezar came up, and hit with the TrueBlade so hard the area itself warped, the energy from the blow radiating outwards like a comet. Bass was sent back a bit, and amazingly, the strike had actually gotten through the iron skin. Bass made a nimble jab with the Dark Claw, and the TrueBlade shattered again, before Bass moved the sword up, cutting at the face. Grezar's own claws scored a blow, ripping away part of the front of Bass' cloak, before he shot the LaserRay at point blank, the thin beam driving Bass into the floor.

" **HubBatch!"**

But then Bass flew up again, and just as Grezar gained the blue tinge of the chip Bass threw a pair of Hell'sRolling discs, and Grezar crossed their arms as they ground into their defences. Treble's head reappeared, a light Arthur couldn't mistake gathering in the throat.

"He's charging VanishingWorld!" Warned Arthur.

Too late, or perhaps simply nothing he could do, as the attack fired. The screens whited out, and when they cleared Grezar was still flying, but in bad shape, and the area was even more damaged. Bass surged forwards, and his sword bounced off a well-timed Reflector from HubBatch, but he only flipped back and formed an EarthBreaker, the orb pulsing in his hands far more powerful than anything Arthur had seen him make before.

" **SilverWind!"**

Grezar let loose the flurry of air, but Bass charged through, and brought the orb overhead, slamming it down with enough force to finally floor Grezar. He himself shot down, shrouded in purple power once again, and hit the floor with a 'BOOM'. All of them passed straight through, and the area itself freaked out, the background spasming before the screens refocused, in the Graveyard. Grezar's health was low, and before they could get up Bass slammed them again.

Ethan cursed and dropped the PET. Arthur could smell burning. "We've overloaded!" He clutched his hand.

Arthur's heart went to his throat. If they lost here, then... Wait!

MegaMan ran forwards, fast as could be, and suddenly dived onto Grezar. "Install Cybeast!" He shouted. There was a flash of light. If faded to reveal Alias on the floor, barely intact, and Grezar renewed, standing before Bass. Alias logged out.

"Running Hub Batch!" Said Lan. "Ready Bass? Once and for all!"

Grezar clashed with Bass again, this time with Lan operating. Grezar suddenly dual-wielded TrueBlades, slicing and dicing with perfect precision, three perfect warriors rolled into one. Bass was giving it all he had, striking explosively and throwing Hell'sRolling wheels and breath attacks in a constant barrage, but Grezar dodged, weaved, and struck back, until they clashed again, all their power in the blow and with a huge blast, they warped.

"Nebula area?!" Said Blaze.

They were still going, flying in the air and fighting tooth and claw, holding absolutely nothing back. Arthur's anxiety was at breaking point, as Lan fed in a stream of chips, Grezar responding in kind with a veritable wall of attacks, dashing with pixel-perfect accuracy and then striking, and they clashed again, another warp initiating as the area threatened to be destroyed by the fight.

"And Black Earth... they're going through all the places they fought?!" Said Chaud.

Bass was finally starting to tire by the looks of things, his cloak torn to shreds, merely a scarf now, and wounds showing across his body, while Grezar had taken some hits too, but it wasn't over- Again, they warped, this time to somewhere Arthur recognised.

"This is the Secret area- they fought here too?"

And they kept fighing, every dodge defying expectations, every strike going on, as attacks tore into the flooring and began to threaten the integrity of the area, they warped again.

"WWW area." Remarked Ethan.

A LaserRay caught Bass in the chest, and BusterRake rained onto Grezar, Hell'sRolling wheels tearing away chunks of the floor, and then Grezar unleashed another TheEnd advance, white lights encircling Bass and all attacking at once, the area again starting to break apart from the force of the attacks, until finally, Bass lunged, focusing all the power he could into his blade, striking like a whip's crack, leaving Grezar badly wounded, but he he turned, and there was one last warp.

They were in a generic bit of net. Nothing special about it. It seemed old, perhaps abandoned now. The mere presence of the two gods of the net was enough to damage it. Bass started readying VanishingWorld, and Grezar LaserRay.

"Enough!" Shouted Bass. "I've suffered enough, to win now, today! I... won't... LOSE!"

" **No, Bass. We've had enough.** " Said Grezar, speaking for the first time.

They fired.

The screen went blue.

* * *

It took a minute for the computer to recover. Lan was breathing heavily, but not dead or unconscious, which was a good sign. Once it came back to its senses, the first thing Arthur saw was Grezar. Heavily damaged but intact, carrying Bass. He was on the very brink of deletion, data flowing out of him. But he was intact. The area they'd been fighting in was gone. Grezar flew shakily, until reaching solid ground. As soon as he touched down, it started to glow a little, his presence too much, before he split, leaving only three very tired navis. MegaMan set Bass down on the floor. "..."

Gregar sat down. "...We won."

"Treble..." Flare tried to walk forwards, and collapsed.

MegaMan knelt. "Bass... wake up."

On command, Bass' eyes opened. "..." He looked away.

"It's over. Let him go." Said MegaMan gently.

"Or what? You'll delete me?" Said Bass weakly. "I have nothing left to lose."

"...You still have Crescendo."

"He... he's leaving, too. He just wanted a quiet... life." Bass said.

"Live it with him, then. If you really don't have anything to fight for, then... it should give you some kind of purpose."

"..." Bass was quiet. He sighed. "No, I can't live that life. But... release ability." His altered form disappeared, data rapidly taking shape next to him.

Treble sat up with a gasp. "Free at last!"

"Treble!" Called Arthur.

"Arthur!"

"I'm so glad to have you back... when I lost you, I thought you were gone forever..."

"I'm okay! But... Flare! Flare, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you but I couldn't stop him!" Treble ran over, holding Flare up and hugging her. "Tell me you're okay!"

"I'm fine..." Flare's head nodded onto Treble's shoulder. "Just tired."

"Can you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive." Said Flare serenely. "You did it."

MegaMan looked around. "Not to cut this short, but this place seems to be falling apart from our last attack. I think we'd better go."

Treble nodded, as did Flare. Gregar disappeared, along with those two, leaving only MegaMan and Bass. MegaMan picked up Bass, and logged out with him. "You won't be left to die here."

* * *

"So, it's over then. Everything's done." Said Chaud. "We even have Bass in custody, as a truly remarkable achievement. So now I'd like to formally present Arthur Penn and Treble with the official star. They've more than earned it."

Arthur bowed slightly, as Treble cheered. "Thank you, sir."

"We did it!"

Wily walked over. "This may well mark the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity. Without Bass on the net, then I can safely use the systems to fight crime, and with that in addition to the current officials... we may well be able to solve a lot more of the world's problems. Only fitting, since I caused the few years of strife you've faced."

"...Peace. Wow." Said Ethan. "Like, getting viruses off the net?"

"We'll see." Said Wily.

"Yeaaaah!" Blaze punched the air. "I'm so ready for some peace. I'm gonna learn how to rollerskate!"

"...I'll be out of a job, if you bring down all the criminals." Denny didn't sound at all upset over that observation.

"Maybe there'll be peace in the CyberWorld, but I still need to train to defend this country." Said William. "Still, good to know I did my duty."

"How's that." Said Joe. "We are going to have the best stories to tell our kids."

Arthur smiled. "Mm."

"What're you going to do next, Arthur?" Asked Chaud. "We'd be more than happy to offer you a job here. as net security. But of course, you do now have renown across the world as someone who was willing to give their life for everyone's good, and the letter from Wirope's government. You could go anywhere."

"...I'll take your job, though." Said Arthur. "Assuming Treble doesn't mind."

"Of course not! Flare, I can still see you a lot, right?" Said Treble.

"Naturally. We're finally going to be toghether."

"Then it's settled. Send me the paperwork whenever... because right now, I have some serious catching up to do." Said Arthur. "Anyone want to come and meet my parents?"

* * *

"...And that's everything that happened." Finished Arthur. "Even boiled down, it's quite a lot, huh?"

"You're telling me!" Exclaimed Mrs. Penn. "This is all so... so... it's an epic!"

"Well done, son. You've... uh, gone a little beyond the scope of a humble barkeep."

"Oh, and this must be Ethan." Mrs. Penn walked over, and tousled Ethan's hair. "...I'm sorry the world wasn't so kind to you."

"I-its okay! Even if there were rough patches, I couldn't ask for better friends." Said Ethan, turning bright red.

"You look like you're melting." Said Alias.

"Just... emotional." Said Ethan.

Blaze sat down on one of the seats. "So... wow. I don't know why, but I always imagined you two were... I don't know, millionaires who owned businesses."

"Nope! We're just a couple of normal old parents." Said Mr. Penn. "We just want the best for our boy. That's all."

"And he got it!" Said Mrs. Penn.

"...He did. We're very lucky." Mr. Penn nodded. "...Summer is nearly over, so... who wants a barbeque? Nice way to round this all off, wouldn't you agree?"

"Ohh, yes! Guys, my dad's really good at cooking, you've gotta stay for the barbeque."

"...Okay." Said Ethan. "But I want to go and see my friends after. They must be worried for me!"

"Invite them over, too." Said Mrs. Penn. "I'll head to the shops, how many are we buying for?"

"...Make it fifteen." Said Arthur. "That should be about right."

"Don't forget to have them bring their navis!" Said Treble.

Everyone headed out into the sunset.

* * *

Bass groaned, finally recovered. He looked out of a camera to see Chaud. "...Do it, then." He said.

Chaud shook his head. "...Legally, I certainly could have you deleted. A lot of people would encourage me to, given everything that you did, outweighing even the fact that at first it wasn't your fault. But..." He stood up, and walked away. Revealing Cossak behind him.

Cossak sat down. "Bass, my son... I am sorry."

"Your words mean nothing to me."

"I know." Said Cossak. "...But I'm listening. Let it out. Just let it out."

Bass just sighed. "There's nothing I have to say to you. Let me die with dignity."

"...I doubt you'll die here." Said Cossak. "I think we both know you well enough."

For the first time, Cossak saw Bass smile.

 **Author's notes: So that brings Arthur's arc, and Ethan's post-story arc to a close. But the story has yet to end, as I've said before- so please, stay tuned.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **lucaura678: I couldn't make a post-game area without at least two incredibly annnoying gates to open, that do actually give a nive feeling of satisfaction to finally crack. Truthfully, FolderBack is the best standalone chip in the franchise, even if I changed the function a free recast for anything is very strong. Trouble always find the strong. It looks for them, and Gregar is no exception. I always thought a spear would suit Okami nicely, especially since a 'lightweight' spear and shield is a very useful but often never-written gfighting style.**

 **RushAlias: Reviews give me strength. I'll press on regardless if I get them or not, but reading them is really what gives me the fuel to keep pressing on.**

 **JaneValentine007: Definitely, although I think I kept track of everything, it's so easy to just have something slip out of your mind.**

 **jon12231223: Thanks!**


	49. Chapter 49: Guardsman

**Three months later...**

"...Forty nine... fifty." Finished Arthur, getting to his feet. "Fifty push ups. Nice."

"You're getting better at this!" Added Treble.

"I should hope so." Arthur slipped the PET back into his pocket. "I've been doing this for... I guess it's close to three months now."

"Yep. Come on, let's go to Scilabs!"

"Sure. I still can't believe I have a job there..." Said Arthur, walking out of the door of his house. The sunlight was shorter now, in late November. The early morning was chilly, but the weather had yet to go into full winter. "Well, I guess we're part of security. Not a science-based job."

"Will be! We've still got to finish all those training courses!"

"Mm. But I'm doing well enough at them. I wonder how everyone's doing today? It's... well, you know how big today is."

"Oh yeah. I can't help but feel nervous."

"Huh? Nervous? You trust Ethan and Wily, right?"

"...These systems will change society, right? For the better, but... well, I guess change is just scary sometimes."

"...Yes. But we've got friends- and I'm sure they'll help out if everything goes badly."

"Yeah. Speaking of friends! I hope everyone's okay!"

Arthur stepped onto the train.

* * *

Scilabs felt familiar nowadays, a home away from home. Even if Arthur had stopped living in the room there, he truly felt like he belonged. The receptionist smiled. Arthur nodded back. "They're still in Wily's lab?"

"They're moving the systems in two days."

Arthur walked over to the room, pushing the door open. "Hey guys. So I'm here for the, uh, secret showcase." He looked around, seeing Lan, Blaze, Ethan and Wily.

"Ah, right on time too." Said Wily.

"...All energy levels are within predictions." Said Ethan, facing a monitor. "Gregar, any sign of negative effects?"

"Nope." Responded Gregar. "You sure this thing will be able to handle it if I go all-out?"

"As long as the mainframe holds." Said Ethan. "...Oh yeah, hi Arthur. Just doing the final preliminary tests. Now!"

The screen glowed, and Ethanheld his breath. "...Okay, it's holding... energy levels are slightly below what we can take, so don't go harder..." A few seconds passed. "Success!"

"Whew." Said Gregar.

Wily turned. "So, now that we're ready, it's time for us to explain our glorious systems to you." He waved his PET at a whiteboard, and some charts and numbers came up. "The Colonel and Iris systems, version one-point-oh. Let's start with an ability showcase."

"So, I've released some viruses into this area." Said Ethan, taking over the presentation. "As you can see, they're all pretty strong. However, we don't want them there. Colonel, now."

A glowing green image of Colonel appeared in front of the viruses. It slashed one in half, before moving back.

"This ability is the same as before. Just as is his self-resurrection. As long as his main self is intact and he has power, unlimited Colonels to attack viruses. Plus he now has a direct communications link to the JudgeTree, so if a navi is convicted then we can use the Colonel system on them, too."

Arthur nodded. "Pretty similar, but I notice you haven't had to weld Gregar into it."

"Right on. We basically made a power battery, so Gregar just needs to charge the system every once in a while." Said Ethan. "Now for the other system..."

Wily took over. "R, please destroy the walkway in front of you." There was a sudden blast, and Arthur saw a gap in the area. "Now to demonstrate the Iris system. I removed the pacification feature, since mind control isn't well-appreciated. But she can repair damage to the net at unlimited range, and replacing the pacification feature, I added a 'lifesaver', which will heal a navi. Observe."

The walkway glowed with orange energy, as the data reassembled. After a few minutes, it was as if no damage had occurred.

"That's pretty cool!" Said Blaze.

"Yeah. We're going to show everyone in three days time." Said Ethan.

"Not bad... Well, want to go and have a Netbattle? My security shift doesn't start just yet." Offered Arthur.

"You're on!"

* * *

It was a relatively casual match. Gregar had just tired himself out fuelling the Colonel system, Arthur was reigning Treble back a little just in case anything actually happened on the security shift.

Not that anything would. In three months he'd kept plenty of viruses out of the labs, but there hadn't been any kind of co-ordinated or planned attack.

"Ready to give up yet?" Called Treble, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts.

"As if." Responded Gregar, jumping into the air. He shot a TailArrow down, and Treble jumped to the side, firing his buster in response. Gregar dashed down, slamming into the floor in front of Treble, only to be outmanouvered, and knocked flat on his front when Treble kicked him in the back. He jumped back onto his feet, only for Arthur to interrupt.

"Alright, I think we'd better quit now." Said Arthur. "Work's starting in a minute."

"Ah, fine." Grumbled Gregar. "We'll finish this later, Treble."

"Yeah!"

"It's weird to think you're actually employed by this place." Said Ethan. "Anyway. I'm not going to be needed in the lab, so... maybe I'll come with you for now?"

"Sure."

Security work was relatively simple, mainly requiring fortitude. Arthur's main greivance was that the shirt and jacket he'd bought to look relatively professional were still kind of stiff- he'd only been wearing them for a few days.

Ethan sat down. "Don't know how you can handle just standing around. I'd go mad if I couldn't do anything."

"Eh, I guess that's just the difference between us." Said Arthur. "Honestly, it's easy work- I just have to take it seriously. You can work in peace."

"...Man, my engineering does NOT feel like work. It's just like I've been given unlimited hobby money." Said Ethan. "Plus a pair of super awesome cybeast friends so I can completely revolutionise the net."

"You know what they say." Said Alias. "Find a job you love, and you'll never work a day in your life."

"Mm. Although I love the family repair shop, too. I hope I can find some way to keep it open." Said Ethan, a little melancholy.

"It'll be fine." Reassured Gregar. "Maybe Baryl could take it over? He knows what he's doing."

"...He's not that much younger than Miles though. Meh, anyway. You got any plans for the future?"

"Not really." Said Arthur. "I've been rolling with it for the most part, trying to make something out of all these crazy opportunities I got given. I have to say, Treble was the best thing to ever happen to me. A job, a strong navi, a good reputation AND a lifelong friend? What more can I even ask for?"

"Hey thanks!" Called Treble. "Having you is pretty great too! I couldn't have made it anywhere without you to guide me."

Arthur smiled. "...Well, I guess all there really is to go from here is a happy end. I'm not going to top saving two countries a war."

"Yeah, but you'd better believe I'm going to try and one-up you somehow." Smirked Ethan jokingly. "I'll... I dunno, save the world or something."

"Hey... Can I go be with Treble a bit?" Said Flare.

"Sure thing." Ethan took out his PET and sent Flare in. "...I think I'll head out and grab some coffee while I'm still having a break. You'll be okay, right?"

"Yep!" Responded Flare, as she and Treble ran to each other. After three months, they no longer felt the need to explode in excitement and be near each other at all times, having settled into a relationship where they felt comfortable showing juuust a little less energy, and being happy and calm around each other. It hadn't been completely perfect and idyllic, but with the help of Ethan and Arthur, and the forgiving natures of the two then it had been steady as a rock. They hugged briefly.

"Your wings still smell nice." Said Treble, as he turned to keep watch over the entrance.

"Hehe, I'm glad they do. I don't have a sense of smell."

"Yuichiro is actually close to bringing the program out of beta. Maybe you could have it installed?" Said Treble.

"...Yeah. I know Gregar wants it."

"Do you have any plans for the weekend?" Asked Treble. "...I was thinking we could maybe go to Chip's? We haven't been in like... three weeks?"

"Hmm... I might be busy helping Ethan set up the systems for the big reveal, but I'll see!"

Treble's tail wagged. "Yay!"

Flare looked out serenely, quiet for a few moments before her colours swapped, her wings darkening.

"Oh? Hey, Falzar... Uh..." Treble said awkwardly.

"Relax. I'm still operating under the loophole that fighting Gregar can be delayed. I just... ugh... nothing." She said.

Arthur leaned down. "Nothing."

"Okay, fine. I suppose I just wanted to chat too. Treble's one of the few navis I actually trust."

"Still haven't warmed up to Alias?" Said Treble.

"Few. I'd trust him- just a little. So..." She hesitated. "...Arthur, help me make a conversation."

Arthur tried to think of something for a few moments, before one thought came forwards. It would do. "Do you smell different to Flare?"

Treble sniffed. "...She... kind of, I guess? Actually, hmm..."

"How so?" Questioned Falzar.

"I dunno, you kind of... okay, so Flare smells like Flare, with a bit of you, while you smell like yourself with a bit of Flare. Make sense?"

"...Kind of. But is that a specific smell? Roses? Violets? Cinnamon?"

"Uhh... I have never smelled any of those. They don't even exist in cyberworld!" Said Treble. "You smell like this one sword chip I saw once."

"...Right. Well-" Falzar flickered, switching back to Flare. "She gets lonely sometimes, but I've been waiting too. Besides, there's something I want to talk about."

"Oh?"

"Yesterday, Lan was acting kind of weird." Said Flare. "I asked him about it, and he showed me this set of data he'd recorded when he was performing an experiment. Apparently there were some EM waves floating around that he just... couldn't explain."

"I mean, that's curious, but I don't really see where you're going with this?" Admitted Treble.

"Well... I guess it's just that something got Lan worried. Maybe you should be on the lookout for wherever they came from." Said Flare.

"Sure thing! But... uh, what should I look out for?"

"Not sure. But hey, at least it's off my mind now."

"...I can probably get a program to detect EM waves." Said Arthur. "...Although I don't have a clue where."

"How's Lan's stuff going anyway?" Said Treble. "I'm really excited to see what he can do with it!"

"Well, the maths is slowing him down. I saw one of the pages, and even if I have a calculator programmed into me I couldn't understand a thing." Said Flare. "...Oh, I need to get back to the lab soon. See you!"

* * *

The shift passed uneventfully, even if it wasn't too boring. Plenty of people came and went, most offering a short greeting or two or three lines of conversation. Arthur finally got to leave, unclipping a little 'Security' badge. He looked at it for a moment. He didn't really feel like security, more an assistant. He was heading outside when he saw someone familiar by the BBS.

"Blaze." He called. "Any luck with the license exam?"

"Not quite sure!" Blaze spun around. "We aced the battle test, and I'm pretty sure I got the questions right, but I don't know if I was... I dunno, professional enough?"

"It'll be fine," Insisted Ember. "Seriously, Chaud went around being rude to pretty much everyone for like three years and nobody cared."

"Yeah, you're right."

"So, I guess we'll get the good news soon then?" Said Arthur.

"Congrats!" Added Treble.

"Hehe, thanks. So what do you think of the systems? I know we can't get them covering absolutely everywhere, but hey, if you know where the crime will happen then it's an easy fix."

"Perhaps. Say, have you seen Lan recently? I heard he was worried about something, but I haven't been able to confirm it or anything."

"He should be in his dad's lab. They were working to try and make some progress on the EM tech."

"I'll go check up on him, then. Want to come with me?"

"Yeah, sure. By the way, I like that new jacket of yours. Way better then the old gray one."

"Oh, really? I kind of liked the gray one better. It's nice wearing colours that match your navi. Like that one steel hairpin you have."

Blaze reached up and touched it. "I worry it sticks out too much. I got a new shirt like two days ago, but people only notice the hairpin."

"I guess that means it's a good hairpin? Not really much of a fashionista myself."

"Eh, who cares." Shrugged Blaze.

"Oh, did you guys hear about SageMan?" Said Ember.

"Hm? What about him?" Asked Arthur.

"He saved some navi from a virus. Pretty heroic of him, right?" Blaze smiled.

"...Yeah, that's nice. Any idea how the other three are getting on? I know the two who got fundamentally bugged have had a rough time..."

"Not really sure. But they haven't been in trouble, at least." Blaze knocked on the doors to the lab.

Yuichiro opened them. "Oh, hello. Looking for Lan?"

"I just heard he seemed troubled, and wanted to know if there was anything I-we, could do?" Asked Arthur.

"Oh, hi guys." Said Lan. He was looking at a giant set of readouts on a screen, while Mayl filed through a few reports. "...Come look at his. Nobody can understand it at all."

Arthur wandered over, looking at the bars. Most of them seemed meaningless, he didn't even know what half of them even related to. But he noted one that was about three times higher than the others. "What's that one that's gone mad?"

"It's a specific type of EM radiation." Explained Yuichiro. "It's kind of annoying, since it's messing with our results on the new technology."

"..." Blaze seemed to narrow her eyes. "Where have you been testing it? That light-blue table there, right?" The table she gestured to was dark blue.

"Uh, light blue?" Said Arthur.

"Well, I guess it's cyan if you really want to go there- oh, right. Sorry. It's probably dark blue." Mumbled Blaze quickly. She pushed the table to the side a bit. "Try taking another reading?"

"...It's lower now." Said Lan in confusion. "...Well, thanks!"

Arthur was astounded. "Okay, that... I have no idea how you fixed that so easily, but that was pretty amazing."

"...Why'd you think the table was light blue though?" Said Treble.

"Oh, I... um." Blaze shrugged. "I guess I have some problems with... colour vision sometimes. Yep. That's all."

"Huh. I never would have suspected it." Said Arthur. "Well... want to go find Ethan before the day's over?"

* * *

Zero was sitting in a quiet corner of the net. It hadn't been used in years, so the place was quiet. If you'd looked at him, you'd have assumed he was mediating, and wouldn't have been totally wrong. He was watching a file he'd mysteriously received from one of his cameras.

A pair of navis faced each other. One was somewhat reminiscent of a knight, with a helmet concealing their face, and an ancient-looking chestplate and gauntlets, with a simple, stoic cloak. But he couldn't see what weapon he was holding, or the details on the chestplate, thanks to the large shield he was holding. The shield... there was something about it Zero couldn't quite put his finger on. It appeared to just be an ornate, if intimidating shield. A face was clearly emblazoned onto the front, but Zero again couldn't tell many of the details from his camera, since it was deflecting a lot of attacks from the other fighter.

The other fighter seemed to be a navi based on a dragon, poetically enough. Their armor was fantastically detailed, even if combat obscured it. They attacked with blasts of flame, carefully vaulting and dodging to try and find a chink in the defence of the knight. For one moment, there was a clear view, and Zero saw the helmet clearly. The dragon's mouth opened to show a pair of eyes, and at that moment Zero saw something truly unsettling in those eyes. They were... too realistic. The only navi with eyes like that... then with a beat of a pair of wings, the dragon lifted into the air, and tried to deliver a flying strike with some kind of sword chip. The knight struck it with his own sword, and they both went stumbling back, the wings keeping the dragon upright. They were preparing to attack again, and then there was a burst of static on his camera and the video cut out.

That wasn't quite what concerned Zero the most. His cameras never had static, let alone failed. And even so... there were so many other concerning things about this video. Not least of which was that he'd never seen the two fighters before or since. But what to do about it? And the worst thing. The one thing that really did have Zero confused. The timestamp on the video.

22XX.

* * *

"Excited for tomorrow?" Asked Arthur, flicking off the lights and falling into bed.

"Oh yeah! I wonder what the stage for Ethan's systems is going to look like?"

"Hmm... don't forget they're really Wily's systems. I mean, Ethan helped a lot, but Wily did most of the work."

"But it wouldn't be possible at all without Gregar and Flare to power them." Countered Treble. "Anyway, stage? I hope they have a big curtain over the whole thing."

"...That would be cool. But it seems kind of old-fashioned a way to reveal this brand-new cutting edge technology. I... I think it would be cool if they had some kind of lift to make them rise from the floor."

"Oooh. Yes, that would be something. Say, since the stage is getting set up a few days before he actually gives the presentation, we could see if there's something to add to it!"

"Ah, what would I do without that proactivity?"

"Probably complain more when I wake you up."

"...It's nothing personal. Just... well, getting up."

"I'd love to try that once in a while. I only really sleep if I get knocked out." Said Treble. "I want to know what all the fuss is about, getting up."

"You're not missing out on anything. Night."

"Night!"

* * *

Arthur got into Scilabs, and the first thing he saw was Ethan. "Hey, did you get round to moving your system yet?"

"Yeah, I just... well." Ethan scowled. "...Got a moment to listen?"

"Of course. Something wrong?"

"Well... I got this mail from Zero last night. He sent me a really strange video. It was apparently from 22XX."

"Are you sure that's not some kind of prank? I mean, I know Zero's super serious most of the time, but..."

"Yeah, yeah. Time travel isn't possible to the best of my knowledge." Said Ethan. "But Zero would never send me something he didn't genuinely believe was important. So... well, take a look."

Arthur watched. "Why does it suddenly cut out like that?"

"...I'm not sure." Said Ethan.

"That one navi had a really cool design!" Said Treble. "Did you see that helmet?!"

"It was a pretty nice look, wasn't it?" Agreed Arthur. "...Sorry to run off, Ethan, but-"

"Yeah, shift starting. Go on, I'll still be here in a few hours."

Arthur mused over the video, with little else to dwell on. "So... Who do think won that fight? I was always fond of dragons, so I hope they won."

"Knights are cool though! Imagine rescuing a princess and just carrying her away while the prison tower thing explodes behind you!"

Arthur stifled a laugh. "...Pretty sure most fantasy castles don't explode."

"Yeah. But still, it'd be fun, being a knight in shining armor and stuff."

"I don't think you'll be rescuing Flare from anything anytime soon."

"That's okay! She could be like... a second knight in shining armor!"

"But who gets to carry who away from your exploding tower?"

"You could be the guy in distress, if you want to go and use Wily's chair o' doom."

Arthur finally laughed. "Chair o' doom."

Treble laughed too. "Sometimes I think of names too good not to use."

Ethan came back past. "Hey, Arthur? Can I get a hand moving some of the parts of the system's computer? I don't want Wily to put his back out."

"Sure thing. I'll be right back, Treble." Arthur wandered after Ethan.

* * *

About an hour later, everything was moved inside a huge hall near Scilabs. Ethan looked at all the equipment and sighed. "Okay, time to get this all fixed together. Ugh, it feels unsafe taking it outside the labs. What if something happens to it?"

"It should be fine." Reasoned Arthur. "This hall you booked is going to get a huge crowd, so if they mess something up then the world's going to see it." He turned to leave, heading back quickly. It was only a ten minute walk.

As soon as he pushed the doors open, then he saw Blaze. "Oh, there you are." She said.

"Morning." Greeted Arthur.

Blaze nodded. "Hey, I need to show you something."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Is this that video Ethan has? Curious, isn't it?"

"What video?" Said Blaze. "Oh- uh, anyway, I just need you to go and stand... there's this one specific place." Blaze sounded unusually urgent. She walked off, beckoning Arthur to follow. He went along, eventually coming to the middle of a corridor.

"What's so special about this place?"

"...Family secret." Said Blaze. "But basically, I know something will happen here at some point sort of soon, so stand here. I need to go do some urgent stuff. Oh yeah, and send Treble... here." She brought up a map, before running off."

"What's gotten into her?" Murmured Arthur, as Blaze ran around a corner.

* * *

Bass was aware of someone entering the room he was locked in.

Chaud and Blaze walked forwards. "You have a visitor." Said Chaud plainly.

"..." Bass was silent.

Blaze looked at him. "...Bass, I need to ask you a question. I'll accept whatever answer you give."

"..."

She brought up a few recorded readings on her PET. "Have you ever seen any readings like this on the net?"

"..."

"Don't wanna answer, huh... I can't blame you."

"...Once." Said Bass.

Blaze started in shock, before leaning in.

"It was around the time the WWW was prevalent." Said Bass. "I sensed a reading like that and went to investigate, but it disappeared before I reached it."

"Okay... any idea if someone might know more?"

"..." Bass was silent again.

Blaze shrugged. "Okay. Bye."

* * *

Arthur was starting to get a little bored. He was missing out on a lot of the normal tiny conversations he could have, because everyone was coming through the entrance, not some random corridor. "I just don't get what Blaze is up to..."

"Me neither. We really ought to ask her." Said Treble.

"What if she's planning some kind of surprise party for someone?" Mused Arthur.

"I dunno, your security job is just to make sure vistors get pointed to the reception, you don't really have to inspect stuff, so she didn't need to order you out of the way." Said Treble. "And anyway... does Chaud know? He probably won't be too happy we're guarding some random corridor."

"...Oh heck. Better mail him, or something." Said Arthur, before spotting a flash of red hair. "Oh, wait. Blaze! Blaze?!"

Blaze swung back around the corner. "Arthur?"

"...I just... well, I just kind of want to know what this is all about? And does Chaud know I'm guarding this corridor?"

"Well. It's just something kind of dumb, really." Said Blaze. "A, um, family superstition. But yeah, I cleared it with Chaud."

"...If you're sure." Said Arthur. "Oh yeah, have you seen Ethan's video?"

"Nope. What it is?"

"It's two navis fighting. Just... well, it seems a bit weird somehow. Take a look."

Blaze watched intently. "Hm. 22XX? And what's with the creepy shield?"

"Not sure." Said Arthur.

Ember seemed to have another point. "Those eyes... they looked kind of like yours, Blaze. I mean, yours are a bit lighter, but the shape's there. And red's not too common."

"Yeah... Well, I gotta keep going. I'll explain everything soon!" Said Blaze.

Arthur watched her go. "...I'm so confused."

* * *

Elsewhere Blaze slipped a hand into her pocket, and took out a locket. "I have no idea what I'm doing." She said to Ember.

"We just have to trust that you're not accidentally setting up a giant mess." Said Ember. "Got any more family superstition things that might help us out?"

"Not really. All I know is that mom's bedtime stories might have been significantly less lame than I first thought. Or I've finally gone mad."

"You seem sane enough to me. But still." Ember's tone turned a little accusing. "I've known you long enough- you're not colourblind."

Blaze shook her head. "The truth is... weirder. Either way, mom made a big deal of not telling anyone, so... well, don't call me out okay?"

"But you can trust Arthur and Ethan, right? And Burn?"

"Burn's already in on it." Said Blaze. "And of course I trust them, silly! It's just... well, I guess I didn't want to throw away that secrecy thing so easily. I'll tell them if things get bad."

"If things get bad? What... are we dealing with here?"

"I wish I knew." Said Blaze.

 **Author's notes: Sorry to keep you waiting! I just had to deal with a bit of illness over the weekend. Hopefully this transition isn't too jarring.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **RandyPandy: Hearing that little chime when the doors opened was always a breath of relief. FolderBack was so monumentally overpowered that honestly it made breaking the game fun. Although I couldn't preserve that power for the sake of a good story. Here's hoping this arc is good!**


	50. Chapter 50: Another story

It was another new day. Arthur was only just getting off the train when the universe dropped the first hint it was going to be a weird one.

"Man, I feel kind of weird..." Said Treble. "It's like there's something sort of... pushing against me?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's not like wind, but... I guess wind is the closest description I have."

"Huh. But you're okay, yes?"

"...Yeah, I think so. Anyway, if there is something wrong then Scilabs can fix it!"

"Right."

Arthur went on, and once he went up the stairs, approaching the building, he got a second hint. The PET beeped with mail. "Oh, who's that?"

Treble opened the message. "It's from Denny. Hey, nice for him to finally be the one to talk to us! 'Blaze knows something important. Try not to get in her way.' Aaand he's being super vague."

"Well, considering I'm actively helping her by guarding some random corridor, the instructions seem a little redundant, but... Hmm. What would she know?" Mused Arthur.

"Uh, look, basing what I'm saying on my experience with Flare, when girls keep a secret it's normally something really important and life-threatening."

"...Right." Arthur's mind flashed back to a school year where nearly every girl got in trouble at least once for leaving class to secretly apply lipstick. "I... well... I have no idea how to properly refute that but I think you might need a bigger... pool of experiences?"

"Nah, this'll be fine." Said Treble.

Arthur stepped in and received a third, final, and much more obvious hint.

"I don't think today is going to be a normal day." Said Blaze, to his face. "Come with me."

* * *

She guided him over to Yuichiro's lab, where the Hikaris were waiting. Yuichiro brought up a picture on the screen, of the room divided into squares. "We moved our detector for the EM waves over the room, and plotted how strongly they were measured. These are yesterday's results."

Arthur saw a red circle of strong readings in the centre of the room, a clear node.

"And these are today's." The circle was twice as large.

"Hm. What does this mean for me?"

"I think it's likely to be relevant later, is all. Just... well, if it keeps growing this way, then eventually something's bound to happen, right?" Said Blaze. "If it causes something bad, then you know to come here. Since, you know, strong EM waves would stop them messaging you."

"Oh, fair enough." Said Arthur. "..." He wanted to ask what Blaze was hiding SO badly, but even if he'd countered Treble's argument, the thing was, he did believe Blaze had a genuinely good reason for hiding... whatever she was hiding.

"Oh, um, by the way, that video... Ethan got it from Zero, right?" Said Blaze. "I'd like to ask him, but he's at that hall all day, so it would save time if you knew."

"Afraid not. But it's not that far to walk, so you can probably catch him pretty easily." Said Arthur.

"Oh. Good." Blaze relaxed a bit. "Well, I'll talk to you later, then!" She smiled, back to 'normal Blaze'.

Arthur walked off, back to the corridor.

* * *

"At this point, we should start a betting pool over what Blaze is up to." Said Arthur. "I'm so curious. It's like being a kid and waiting for Christmas so you can unwrap that one present again."

"I've... never actually seen a Christmas." Said Treble. "Still, I'm curious too! I wonder what it could be..."

"Actually, I'm not really a gambler. At least Denny trusts her after... spying on... wait, woah, not cool now that I think about it. He shouldn't spy on his friends." Said Arthur.

"Hey, if there's anyone I'd trust to spy on me then it's Denny. He's crazy with his information gathering! But he never misuses it."

"Yes... Ow!" Arthur rubbed his arm. "I could have sworn I just felt an electric shock..."

"Something smells weird!" Called Treble. He looked around. "...Show yourself!"

'What... where...' A voice faintly called.

Treble spun. "There's someone here, and I don't recognise them!"

Arthur went from confused to fully alert. "Okay, try and speak with them. If they're not from here then we'll have to search them briefly and escort them out."

"Hello there? Where are you?"

"Pantheon... the hell was that last attack? Come here!"

Treble suddenly jumped back as a blast of blue energy seared the floor next to him. "What- Oh, you're fighting me?!" He challenged. "Big mistake!"

"You're not Pantheon..."

Treble jumped straight up, twisting, and landing facing the other way. The navi who'd appeared was... weird. Almost completely flying in the face of normal design traits for a navi. Bulky red chest armor, and a fierce helmet that was somehow familiar. It was a draconic in design, with wavy spikes pointing forwards. Black overtones lapped onto the helmet, and deep red eyes glowed, but unlike Treble's had actual irises. But most strikingly of all, the entire rest of his body was light blue fire. At least, it looked like fire, but it crackled in such a way that it just couldn't be, given the obvious attention to detail on the rest of the navi's design.

"Oh crud. Is... Nebula Gray? That you? You're still bitter?" Said Treble, in a fighting stance. "Anyways, prepare yourself!"

"You're not Pantheon- rgh!"

Treble dived forwards, and the mysterious navi was only just able to block his attack, moving an arm of the blue energy in front of himself. He threw Treble back, and shot another blast of blue energy.

"Let's do this. AreaSteal, Thunder in!"

Treble vanished, and reappeared to his target's left, rolling the Thunder and running after it. The navi turned and raised a hand before making a huge slashing motion at the floor, ripping out three of the panels. The Thunder sputtered out, and Treble stopped, and started firing his tail buster.

"Been I while since I fought like this." Remarked the mysterious navi.

Suddenly they vanished. If Treble had been less experienced he'd have been flattened when he was attacked from behind, just barely managing to parry, and then the fistfight started. The enemy was a fast attacker. Treble was keeping pace easily enough, but if things got much worse- He ducked under another blast of blue fire, then delivered a clawed uppercut. His opponent barely flinched.

"He's not bugging!"

"But we're doing damage. Wear him down and suppress him like any other intruder." Instructed Arthur. "CornShot, FireBurn, both in twice!"

Treble jumped back as the mysterious navi destroyed another chunk of floor in front of him, and then fired the first CornShot and FireBurn in quick succession, missing completely. His opponent flew forwards, floating above the ground, and roared as they tried to bite down. Treble confidently held his arms in front of himself, and was nearly pressed to the floor by the bite, but then growled right back and transformed. Suddenly the dragon's jaws were forced open and off as Treble's skin hardened and expanded to its true size.

Suddenly the fight didn't seem so fair.

"Oh. Today's one of _those_ days." Spat the navi. They launched another blast of fire, and it harmlessly bounced off Treble.

"SURRENDER!" Treble blew wood-element breath over the area in front of himself, and when his enemy jumped upwards to dodge, Treble raised a giant paw and slapped him down to earth, into the attack. The breath cleared, to reveal the enemy still standing, and apparently unhurt- instead dulled, tired a little. They looked up defiantly, and held an arm forwards. It started to glow brighter, charging something.

"I didn't come this far to fall." They said.

Treble pounced forwards, and they fired with a blast. It had truly tremendous force, and to Arthur's amazement Treble was halted where he was, the beam of concentrated power striking into his mouth. Treble staggered, stunned, and coughed once. "I'M FINE! FINE! JUST GOT ME OFF GUARD." Arthur raised an eyebrow. It had done a good 500 damage- nothing to scoff at.

"Where did they go?" Arthur realised.

Treble shrunk back. "Oh, no! They must have run!"

"After them!"

Treble took off at a sprint. He was fast, rounding the corners in desperate pursuit until suddenly the smell he was following wheeled on him- he'd run past it. He turned just in time to get blasted squarely in the chest by another one of the deadly charged shots, the navi dropping down from an above point, bringing their claws down-

"BugAura!"

And then bouncing off before they could deliver a follow-up strike. They snarled and charged again, and with one well-timed swipe Treble sent them back a little, before he made one short sharp cut forwards, only for the enemy to deflect it. It was clear they were getting tired, and they took a deep breath. Treble braced himself for the attack, and then there was a crackle.

"...What's he doing?" Said Arthur.

"Not sure... It's an attack though!" Treble tried to strike again, but he was forced back like they were two opposing magnets. "It's some kind of... Elec? No, no quite?"

"Hyah!" They thrust an arm forwards, and suddenly Treble went shooting back as if there was a rocket attached to his front.

Treble crashed to the floor, and got up. "Darn, there's no way I can catch up after that! I can't take another charged shot!"

"Will transforming protect you?"

"...Yeah, it should. Here goes!" Treble ran forwards, transforming once more. "COME OUT, YOU COWARD!" He continued to run, and turned a corner. This time when the blast came from his left, it bounced off, and Treble turned to strike at the enemy before they moved back. They were clearly low on power now, hunched over and barely keeping up a combat stance, but still seemed far from giving up, charging another attack to the mouth.

"Begone! Spectral Scream!" Considering their relatively normal size, the amount of fire they suddenly blew out was tremendous. Treble clamped his mouth firmly shut, standing straight in the way of the attack and using his innate defence to its fullest. If he'd been in his normal form he would have been incinerated where he stood.

He glared. "I WON'T LET YOU THREATEN OUR COMPUTERS."

"...Ah." They suddenly sounded somewhat smug, despite their low energy. Treble was about to attack, when they vanished.

"I DON'T SMELL THEM." Said Treble. "...HAVE THEY RUN AWAY?"

Arthur frowned, as his arms tingled. "No... It's like..." He looked at them to see all the hairs on end. "It's like there's some kind of presence in the air here."

Blaze rounded the corner. "Arthur! Someone appeared here, too, right?"

"Blaze! Well, yes, sort of? A navi appeared in the network."

Blaze nodded. "Where are they now?"

"Uhh... well, we fought, but then they ran-"

'Nope.' Came a disembodied voice.

Arthur looked around. "What the-"

'Took me a while to realise where I was, but you don't use navis to take on wizards! You can't reach me here. You can't even tell where I am without sensors-'

Blaze took two steps forwards and slapped the air. "Shut up and come help the girl who came through with you! First thing she did was ask me to find you. She's worried sick!"

'...How is it possible-' The voice started in shock.

"Come on, Chroma." Said Blaze.

Arthur looked on in confusion. "Should I come with you?"

"Yeah, I'll need to know what happened." Said Blaze.

* * *

The first hing Arthur saw when he entered Yuichiro's lab was a new girl sitting on the chair, next to Mayl. Her hair was pink like Mayl's, but a lighter shade. Aside from that, she was wearing a banded white jacket, tough red trousers, and had some kind of wireframe hair ornament that reminded Arthur of... cat ears? But what really caught his eye was her PET. It was a somewhat bulky green thing, mounted on her wrist.

"What k-" Arthur stopped himself asking about the PET for a better first question when a random person appears in your lab. "Are you okay? I've been taking first aid courses as part of my security training."

The girl nodded once. "I'm fine. What... what happened to me?" She sounded a little dazed, but it was as if she directed that question at something. Or someone.

Blaze shrugged. "Who knows. I've been keeping an eye on the local waves after they started acting strangely, but... I didn't expect a person to just appear out of nowhere."

Arthur raised a hand. "So... what's going on?"

Blaze put a hand to her forehead. "Um, not sure how to explain it without sounding crazy... It's just... well, sometimes I see things other people don't. In a nutshell."

The mysterious girl raised an eyebrow. "I... I can relate. Maybe on a different level though. I won't stick around and bother you, so... can I just have some directions to the nearest Sattela police station?"

"Sattela police?" Said Lan. "...Uh... Do you mean the NetPolice?"

The girl looked confused. "Aren't the Sattela police worldwide? If... that's what you people call them... okay."

"Well, this place does pretty much double as a police station." Said Blaze. "And as an official- How can I help you?"

"I-uh... this is all a bit much. All these people. Can I just go sit down somewhere and try to work out what just happened to me?" Said the mysterious girl.

"Okay. Just follow me. Arthur, can you stick around? I want to know everything that happened with the sudden appearance."

"Yeah, can do. I'll be in the lobby." Said Arthur.

* * *

Ethan came in through the doors, as the sun was setting. "Guys, I heard something happened today?"

"Yeah, it was crazy. A navi appeared out of thin air and attacked." Said Arthur. "They were strong, too."

Ethan nodded. "...Kind of weird, if you ask me. And have you seen Blaze around anywhere?"

"Nope, she took this girl who also mysteriously appeared to go and have some space. Haven't seen her since."

"Huh... well, want to come see some stuff we've been messing around with in the lab?" Offered Ethan. "Wily's the be-all and end-all for mad scientists. He's the best."

"I... did promise to wait here for Blaze. She hopefully won't be much longer." Said Arthur.

"Hm. Not like her to be late. Hope she's not in trouble."

"No, I don't think she's left the building." Said Arthur. "What's she going to do, get sucked into a computer?"

"Yeah, true. Hey, stay put, there's one thing I really want to show you." Ethan walked off into one of the corridors, leaving Arthur alone.

Treble spoke up. "So earlier... that navi called themselves a wizard?"

"I noticed. Plus they managed to literally just jump out of the computer. To get... well... what did Blaze do to them?"

"Looked like she slapped them. Though they didn't seem effected. Not that I saw. This whole thing is kind of confusing."

"Yeah... Plus Blaze is being secretive over it. If she'd just explain then things would be way easier to make sense of."

Ethan came back holding something. "So, take a look at this!"

Arthur looked. "That. That is a bucket with wires attached."

"Pretty much." Said Ethan. "It's the prototype of our safety suit. We made it in our spare time."

"...How is a bucket going to protect you from anything?"

"Well... why don't you put it on? Eyeholes are by the front." Ethan passed Arthur the bucket, and he saw that it did indeed have two eyeholes drilled in it, with an assortment of wires around the outside.

Arthur slipped it over his head.

"Okay, now let me turn it on..." Ethan reached underneath and flicked a switch. "And now don't flinch." He drew a hand back, and slapped forwards at Arthur's face. Arthur reflexively flinched, but didn't get out of the way of the push. Ethan's hand bounced off... something. "Tadaa. It's a magic bucket of protection."

Arthur straightened out. "You put forcefield generators onto a bucket?"

"Well, it's just the prototype. Basically a protection bubble until the battery dies or it gets overloaded or wet or something." Said Ethan. "Yeah. Don't wear it in the rain. If we made it block raindrops it would shut out the air and you'd suffocate."

"...What's the final version going to look like? A saucepan?"

"Har har, no. I bought a fairly nice suit and tie for the presentation I'm doing, and I'm going to wire everything into that. I'll show it off with the new systems. Or maybe not. We'll see. Anyway, can I have the bucket back?"

Arthur tried to lift it off his head and felt a bump on his feet. "Uh... I think I'm trapped in here. Where's the off switch?"

"Left, just under the rim."

Arthur felt around and turned off the bucket, before handing it back. "Pretty cool thing. Maybe you should take it down to your conference hall in case the suit doesn't work out?"

"...Good idea. Anyway, I'm going to have a few netbattles with Lan. See you later." Ethan walked off.

Arthur kept waiting. The winter sun sunk out of view, and with his shift over, Arthur was now sitting in the corner, on the verge of getting up and going to find Blaze, until finally, she came on out.

"Whew. I was worried you'd have gone. Uh... sorry about the wait." She waved sheepishly.

"What happened? I mean... actually don't apologise, I just want to know what's going on? At least, whatever you're hiding."

"Well, I'll start with the easy stuff. First things first, you know that girl? She's not from here, to say the least. Her PET isn't any kind I recognise, and it's almost twice as powerful as mine- but according to her, it's just a normal off-the-shelf one."

"Oh? But yours is pretty much-"

"The best you can buy, I know." Blaze frowned. "I had a look at the data in there and a lot of it just simply wasn't even compatible with my PET. And then there's the matter of her navi."

"The blue one?"

"Yeah... they're not a navi. She called him a 'wizard', and when I asked what those were she looked at me like I was crazy for a second, before saying 'You know, those things that replaced navis? Basically the cornerstone of modern life for 50 years?'"

"...Ah."

"So she's either a very skilled actress, or... ACTUALLY from the future. And given her PET and this... 'Wizard'..."

"So what do we do now?"

"Well, I need to get her to open up a bit." Said Blaze. "I mean, I've been nice, but she's not so social. But if I don't know everything, then more time travellers don't show up. Oh yeah, and you fought her wizard. How strong are they?"

"Very. Even without any kind of support from the operator, we struggled to match them- although the fact they got us with some surprise tactics might have helped."

"Hmm... more evidence she's telling the truth. So... what now?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Chaud that question?"

"...Maybe. But you might have a better idea."

"I can't think of anything, apart from... are you sure no other time travellers have come through?"

"Positive. I didn't see any other anom-" Blaze clapped a hand over her mouth. "..."

"Uh... look, I don't know what you're hiding but I'm sure you can just tell me."

"...I'm not. It's kind of a big deal to my family." Said Blaze. "Forget I said that?"

Arthur sighed. "Okay. I won't push."

"I'll... I'll tell you one thing. It's an old legend." Said Blaze. "It's simple. There was once a boy, who could see things others could not. Many didn't believe him, until the day that boy saved someone's life. But then nobody would leave him alone- while he was believed, he lost any semblance of a normal life, forever placed on a pedestal, only a tool to be used in the eyes of his society."

"You have some kind of special power you don't want exploited? That's kind of what I'm getting from this."

"Oh, was I really that obvious?" Blaze smiled defeatedly. "Well, just keep it secret okay? I'll have to try harder to keep it."

"Does... Burn have this power?"

"Nope. Passed down to girls only. See the red eyes? That's how y- OF COURSE!" Blaze suddenly jumped up and clapped a hand to her forehead. "How could I not realise it before! She's... She's my..." She turned and ran off, leaving Arthur very confused.

"So... what is this power?" Said Arthur.

"I wonder if she has laser eyes?" Went Treble. "Let's get after her!"

Arthur walked towards where she'd gone, and rounded the corner to almost bump into someone. He scooted back. "Oops, sorry ab-"

"Don't worry. Oh, you're that first-aid guy." Commented the girl. "Bye."

"Er, bye? I think Blaze is looking for- and she's gone." Said Arthur, as the girl turned and walked off. Blaze came running past.

"They let her go! Have you seen her anywhere?!" Said Blaze frantically.

"Yeah, she just left."

"Oh no!" Blaze ran off, out of the doors. "Wait uuup!" She called.

Arthur shrugged. "Do we help her search?"

"Of course!"

Arthur got out of the building, but couldn't see a trace of Blaze or the girl. "...Suddenly I'm less confident."

"Well, if she's not fron here where would she go?" Asked Treble. "I'm betting it's the train station. It's nearby and you can get to other places, like wherever she's from from there!"

"But it's night time. A hotel would be a better choice, especially if she's tired from however she got here." Countered Arthur. "And there's one just down the street there."

"...Actually, it doesn't really matter." Said someone else.

Arthur turned. "Oh, hey Burn."

"She wasn't just randomly let go, into a potentially foreign city with no passport. She just asked to go for a walk." Said Burn. "For the time being, she's staying here."

"Alright. In that case... I think it's about time I got home. I'll come back tomorrow."

"Even though it's Saturday? You don't have a shift then."

"I think we both know that there are times when I need to just be around." Said Arthur. "Have a good night."

"You too."

* * *

The next day, Arthur stepped off the train. "You think Blaze got to speak to her about whatever it was?" Said Treble.

"You know Blaze. There's no stopping her once she gets heated up." Said Arthur. "We should get Ethan in on this too."

"Hey, you already brought me. Although I do wonder just what's going on. Time travel just isn't possible. It's completely unscientific."

"Hey, people said that about bug fusion until Gregar was a thing." Said Treble. "I've done my research!"

"...Hm. Looks like I learned something today. Anyway, her technology really does strongly indicate time travel, but maybe a new perspective will help?" Reasoned Arthur.

"Logic's where I'm strong. Come on, I'm excited to see if she's the real deal." Said Joe.

They continued to walk, and as they were going up the steps, Ethan went down past them, holding The Bucket, filled with a handful of electronics.

"Hey, Ethan, a moment?" Said Arthur.

"Don't worry, Blaze told me everything. I've got Zero helping out up there, but I need to scramble to get everything together for the presentation on tuesday! I really don't want it to get messed up, and I'm behind schedule!"

"Good luck! I'll handle things here." Said Arthur. Ethan was already getting down the stairs. "...Wow, he's really serious about this presentation."

"Come on, Let's go see if anything's happened with Blaze!" Said Treble.

* * *

Arthur walked into Yuichiro's lab. "Guys, have you seen Blaze anywhere? I've checked most of the building."

"Oh, that... It's a good thing you're here, actually. That girl ran off last night, and we can't find her anywhere." Said Yuichiro. "Lan went looking for her, and so did Blaze. They've been up all night."

"W-what?! I'd better go after them."

"Okay. We know she can't have used the LevBus since she doesn't have a pass, and even so she doesn't know how to."

"Right... well, guess it's a good thing we don't have many crime problems here." Arthur left.

Treble spoke up. "Guess we should have stayed last night... Hey, I'll text Ember, see if I can get any info."

Arthur nodded. "I suppose it couldn't be avoided... but what could possibly have driven someone to just run off into a completely unfamiliar city? Maybe we should contact Denny. He'd probably only need a few minutes to track her down."

"Nope, he couldn't do it." Replied Treble. "I just got a message back from Ember, and apparently some kind of electromagnetic radiation is messing with the city's cameras. She thinks the girl's hidden herself somewhere around here, though."

"Oh? Why?"

"The radiation... it's suspiciously circular, in her words. And it gets weaker towards the edges."

Arthur realised what Blaze was deducing. "So something is putting out that disruption, at the center of that circle."

"Yeah. Let's get down there."

* * *

Arthur got to the area, seeing nothing more than a cheap fast-food outlet. It was wholly unremarkable. Blaze was sitting inside, struggling to keep her head from drooping into her cup of coffee. Arthur strode in, feeling oddly purposeful in his security outfit (minus the badge that actually said 'Security'). "Blaze, I heard about the situation."

"Oh... good, good." Blaze looked burned out. Dark circles under her eyes, and a vacant stare on her face. "I'm just waiting for her to show up. She must be pretty near here, and she has to get breakfast at some time. Right?"

"...Makes sense, but I'll check around. I think you need to get some sleep in, perhaps?"

"Tsk, what am I, a lightweight?" Blaze looked around. "I'll check too, once you're done."

Arthur nodded, first scanning the restaurant. He wasn't sure how well they'd be trying to hide, just praying they weren't trained at it- because he sure wasn't.

Joe thankfully had some idea of how to act. "Okay, first things first- let's assume she's trying not to be found. She'd cover up any sign of her identity, and stay inconspicuous. But I doubt she knows where to buy contact lenses, so she can't hide her eyes. Second, have Blaze check the ladies' bathroom. And third... Hmm, I'll save that for if the first two fail."

They split up, looking around the restaurant inside. It was early in the morning and quiet- not a soul in sight. Arthur awkwardly asked one of the staff if anyone had come in and hidden during the night, which they thought was stupid, until he bought a coffee, then they were quiet. Blaze found exactly zero signs of life in the bathroom. And Joe stood before them. "Okay, so Blaze, you're an official, right?"

"Yeah."

"Can you make it so Arthur doesn't get in trouble for going on the roof?"

Blaze raised her eyebrows. "You think she's on the roof?"

"Logically. We've checked everywhere else, and she's definitely around this building, right? And Arthur, you're the one who's been doing strength training as part of becoming a secuity guard, so if you can just climb up there?"

"Can do. Blaze, I won't get arrested?"

"Of course not, silly. It's not even illegal to be up there. Not sure what crazy laws you have back at your town."

"Cool." Arthur walked out, looking for somewhere to climb up. "Hmm... Treble, see anywhere I can get up?"

"Those dumpsters, near that wall. You could use them as a foothold!"

"Let's do it." Arthur had reasonable confidence in his ability to get onto the roof- he'd been doing strength training for a while, and his natural agility wasn't too bad. He climbed onto the lid of the dumpster, then onto the wall, and with a bit of effort, shifted himself onto the roof, carefully climbing up onto the large square.

Lo and behold, there was the girl, asleep next to one of the heat vents. It had been a cold night after all. "Found her!" Called Arthur.

"Great! Coming up!" Blaze's dexterity was clearly suffering from her tiredness, but she was about able to follow. Joe came after her, just barely avoiding falling into the dumpster. She looked at her. "Wow, no blanket. Hope she hasn't caught a chill."

"Wake up." Called Joe, carefully rubbing her shoulder. "Come on, this isn't a good place to sleep."

"Whu- Oh." The girl didn't seem thrilled. "Look, I told you I'm not falling for it!" She stared at Blaze.

"Hey, I only just found you. It took all night." Said Blaze.

"You feel okay? It was a cold night." Said Arthur.

"This is a heat vent. I'm fine." Said the girl. "...But look, you can't convince me."

"Convince you of what, may I ask?"

"Look, I refuse to believe this nonsense about it being 20XX." Said the girl. "It's just not possible. Either I'm dreaming or this is one big, elaborate prank."

"Let me change your mind." Said Joe. "If you'd listen?"

"..." The girl frowned. "Fine."

"First of all, you're not dreaming. You can't think clearly in a dream- or act clearly. Try pinching yourself. Nothing crazy will happen."

She pinched herself. "Okay, so tell me why this isn't some big hoax."

"Because this is an entire city. You can get maybe... ten people in on a hoax without it becoming too common knowledge? A whole city? Just ask anyone. Any random person about whatever you think is a trick."

"Okay. What year is it?" Said the girl.

"20XX. Of course."

"Okay, okay, maybe you weren't a good one to check that on."

"Say, I have another point." Said Blaze. "Navis have been outdated for ages where you're from, right? But all of us have them! Good, custom ones."

"Fine. Show me."

Arthur slipped his PET out of his pocket. "This is Treble."

"Hi there!"

"I have Ember." Blaze showed her navi. "Although you already know that."

"And I have MathMan." Joe took out his PET.

"Greetin-"

"WHAT?!" Shouted the girl. "They... okay... right. I don't know if I need to stop believing you all right this instant, or... or..."

"Uh, what's so special about him?" Said Treble.

The girl looked at him sideways. "That's my MATHS TEACHER. At least, the online one."

"Oh." Said Blaze.

"Forgive me, but I'm not even old enough to go and teach a subject." Said Joe. "...What year are you from?"

"22XX. I doubt you're around."

"...Well. I suppose... that's a bit of a shock, finding that out... this isn't some kind of reverse trick is it?" Said Joe. "Pretty impressive prank if it is..."

"...Alright, MathTeacherMan. I never knew you even had a sense of humor, so... this isn't some big trick?"

"It's just MathMan. But no. I promise that this is the year 20XX AD."

The girl looked conflicted for a few moments. "Then... alright. I suppose I have no choice but to accept. If you went to all the trouble of dragging my math teacher into this then you deserve to trick me. I'll believe you, Blaze."

"Yay." Blaze yawned. "Don't... mind the yawn! I'm happy we got past that whole not-believing-me-and-running-off thing."

"Um, what's your name? I never managed to get it." Said Arthur.

"I'm Valerie." The girl looked at her PET for a few moments, as if listening to something. "...And my partner is Chroma."

 **Author's notes: And here we have the golden rule of all crossovers; the main protagonists must fight and be enemies for at least the first encounter they have.**

 **You see that window over there? Well it's now cracked, because I threw a chunk of gold at it. Didn't quite manage to get away totally conflict-free, but I won't be cliche.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **Lucaura678: Nope, this will be the third and final arc for my story, before I bring it to a close. No seperate fic.**

 **Skotino: EM energy was always an interesting thing to think about for how it would interact with all the old technology too, since in StarForce 1 navis are perfectly capable of fighting wizards, even though wizards are far more advanced- which means wizards must offer some serious utility that navis don't, at the least. And I'm glad to get the compliment, and so is JaneV!**


	51. Chapter 51: Valerie

Getting off the roof was strangely more difficult for Arthur than getting up. Valerie had swung herself over the edge and dropped down like it was something she'd outright practised, and Blaze had followed suit. Joe had walked off the edge, and just about lowered himself down, but Athur was trying too hard not to damage the roofing tiles.

"What are you waiting for?" Said Treble.

"I'm just trying not to damage anything!"

"Jump, then."

Arthur shrugged, and leapt. "Oof!" He brushed himself off. "Well, back to the labs then?"

"...Yes." Said Valerie. "If I'm buying into this craziness then I might as well look for the way out." She gave Blaze an odd look. "Although I'm still not sure about _your_ claim."

Blaze shrugged. "Hey, I don't see any other possibilities."

"Hey, I've been curious for a while now, but... what kind of PET is that?" Said Arthur. "Technology's probably progressed far in 200 years. I mean, 200 years ago we didn't even have computers."

Valerie looked at the device on her arm. "This is a Transer. It's... uh, they... basically replaced PETs... look, I was never good at history."

"Ah. A shame, most historians would be ecstatic if they got a chance like this." Said Joe.

"So what can your Transer do? I'm curious." Said Blaze.

"Well, it can hold data and lets me fight viruses if I need to. Plus it has phone and email stuff."

"Sounds like a PET." Said Arthur. "Anyway, what about your... um, wizard, wasn't it? That must be where they're above PETs, if wizards can exist outside them. Right?"

"...I think so. Look, I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now. Give me space, ok?" Said Valerie.

"Can do."

"So anyway, I notice Chroma's kind of irritated right now." Said Blaze, to Arthur's confusion. "Is it because you can't hide from me?"

"...I don't see anyone." Said Joe.

"Don't worry about it." Smiled Blaze.

Valerie mumbled something.

"Huh?" Said Blaze.

"It's... 'Don't worry about it.'" Quoted Valerie. "You just... remind me of someone. So do they."

"...Tell me about them." Asked Blaze. "I'd love to know everything about the future. Even if it's just the people there."

"...Just a few classmates. I always liked to call them the triple threat." Said Valerie. "You three... I don't know, you're like them but a bit less... pushy."

"Hm." Said Arthur. "...I bet Ethan wouldn't be too happy to be left out of that. Quadruple threat doesn't have the same ring though."

"We ought to have a friendly battle. It looks like our technologies can at least fight each other." Said Joe. "Let's see if your math teacher's tougher than you gave him credit for?"

"..." Valerie shrugged. "I could swear I asked for space."

"Whoops."

* * *

They got into the labs to see Ethan waiting in the foyer. "Hey everyone. I'm not needed at the hall until the delivery arrives later today. So... this is the mystery girl, right? I'm Ethan."

"I'm Valerie."

"Want to NetBattle? It would probably be a good way to get to know each other." Offered Ethan. "But I guess I've got science if that's more your thing."

"...Can you help me work out how to get back to my time? I mean, I know you guys are all excited that I'm from the future, but.. I have friends there! What if I can't get back to them?! What if I... What if..."

"Hey, calm down." Said Blaze.

"Yeah, that's going to do it." Said Valerie, rolling her eyes. "I don't even know what hit me to send me here! And technology isn't advanced enough for me to wave change and actually try and use my abilities to find some kind of answer-"

"It's going to be fine." Said Blaze. "Let's go see if Lan can do anything about this?"

"Wait, Lan?" Said Valerie. "...Hikari?"

"Yeah, him." Said Arthur. "Smartest person I've ever met, and Ethan here is capable of rigging a forcefield to a bucket."

"..." Valerie seemed to gulp, before whispering something. Arthur could just barely make out something along the lines of 'Chroma, he's the most...'

"C'mon!" Encouraged Blaze lightheartedly. Everyone followed her to the Hikari lab. She gave a quick knock before coming in.

"Morning Blaze!" Said Lan. "We've been having a look at these anomalies, but not much luck. They're mostly fading away."

Valerie grimaced. "So I'm stuck here?"

"Don't give up so easily. Science is going to have a few things to say first." Ethan smiled. "So! How did you get here? As long as you know how, I'm sure Gregar won't mind powering your return back."

"Well... I was fighting someone." Said Valerie. "Then... I got blindsided. I'm sure it wasn't their attack that hit me- my opponent was surprised too. Either way, they hit me so hard that it apparently sent me back in time 200 years."

"200 years?" Said Ethan, giving a low whistle. "I heard you were from the future, but _dang_. So anyway, how would that work? Time travel shouldn't be possible..."

"...I have a theory." Said Lan. "The EM tech I'm developing... I feel like it might have acted as an anchor for her. After all, it's meant to be better at interacting with people, more able to influence and be influenced by them. So maybe it was able to give Valerie something to grab on to? After all, the last time this happened then Geo ended up near me because we both-"

"GEO DID THIS TOO?!" Exclaimed Valerie. "How- what-"

"You know Geo?" Said Lan. "Pretty cool, knowing that I was good enough at Netbattling to have someone name themself after my navi!"

"When did you see him? And... how was he like?!"

"Oh, it was a while ago. Near when all the mess on the net started, really. He came after me looking for... Um... I think her name was Sonia? And Roll got kidnapped too, so we worked together to rescue them." Lan was lost in thought for a moment. "Oh! you need a wave hole."

"A what." Said Arthur.

Lan was pulling parts off a desk. "Ethan, I need a soldiering iron and the Black capacitors."

Ethan put a hand in his pocket. "What are you making?"

"Basically an electromagnetic doorway. It'll let Valerie use her technology. Thankfully it's simple enough..." Lan took a huge box of crocodile clips and wires out from under a desk.

"You're as brilliant as I was told..." Whispered Valerie.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue how to get you through time. But at east if we know it's EM tech then I know what to start with." Said Lan. "Hey MegaMan, do we still have dad's Wave hole program?"

"I think so, Lan."

Blaze looked to the side. "So, there's nobody here to freak out at you, or reveal your secrets. Maybe you should go visible?"

There was a brief pause and Valerie spoke. "Might as well give up. It's obvious she's... You know."

There was a ripple in the air. Arthur could just make out something, as if there were a ghost in front of him. "...You must be Chroma."

"Who else?" They said. "...Ugh, I don't like the visible spectrum. Radio is more comfortable. People shouldn't be able to see me unless I shift into their spectrum, but... she's a rulebreaker."

Blaze grinned. "It probably doesn't help you that my frequency-"

"It's not the same as hers." Said Chroma. "Close, but... not the same."

"Aw. Well, I suppose that's not a big deal in the end." Said Blaze.

Arthur's PET beeped. Treble called it out pretty quickly. "We've got a security alert! Get me into the net!"

"On it! I'll handle this." Said Arthur. "Hang in there, guys."

Arthur ran off to the lobby.

The receptionist was looking at the computer. "It's terrible! They're trying to get into the labs!"

"Treble, hunt!" Arthur said confidently.

Treble appeared in the network. "It smells weird in here. Like that wizard."

"...This must be connected to Valerie's appearance." Deduced Arthur. "Move quickly- we can't afford to let them into the labs."

Treble took off at a sprint. Then halted. "Viruses! But... I don't recognise any of them!"

"VariableSword, Left Down Right."

Treble slashed the closest one, and it was still deleted. "Okay, at least that still works."

"They look like Mets with halos. Angel Mets?" Said Arthur. "Not many here, at least."

"Apparently they're called Mettennas?" Said Treble, sinking his claws into another one.

"They're fluttering nuisances, that's what they are!" Shouted Falzar, flying in from the side and shredding one on her talons. "There's a lot of them coming in from all sides. Ethan's got us clearing them up. You get after the ringleader."

"Right!" Treble ran in deeper.

"Do you see anything?" Asked Arthur.

"...ProtoMan!" Treble ran over.

ProtoMan was kneeling, damaged. "I was careless... they outnumbered me. I've activated security to slow them down- hurry."

"Right!" Treble ran forwards, stopping again. "Oh."

"Aw, the letter puzzle. Okay, the passwords are randomised, so... Where's the hint program?"

"Here! So, give me your hint!"

The Mr. Prog looked up. "Peekaboo!"

Treble blinked. "...Hmm..."

"I've got it." Arthur looked at the band of 6 letters on the floor. "...I. C. U. I see you. Probably would have been harder with less choice, but go on!"

Treble stepped over the panels. "Nice! Onwards." He passed into the next area, and immediately looked up. "Hey!"

Some kind of monkey-like program was climbing a wall to try and bypass the security gate.

"Get down here!" Treble started firing his tail buster, and they fell down. Now that he got a closer look, they were a in pink, white and blue, and they were definitely a wizard, not a navi. "...What are you trying to break in for?"

"Wohahah! Wouldn't you like to know?"

"...Leave." Said Arthur. "I'm giving you a fair chance, here and now."

"Idjit!" Mocked the wizard. "Take this- BadaBoom!" They lobbed a small pink bomb forwards, and it burst in midair. Treble raised a hand in front of his eyes, and the smoke cleared to reveal... the security gate, now with a hole blasted through it.

"After them!"

Treble started sprinting again, and as it turned out, he was much faster than the bomber. Before they reached the final gate, they were tackled- and spun quickly trying to pry Treble off before generating a blast and forcing him back.

"...So, who are you? Why are you here?!" Demanded Arthur.

"I'm here from- eh, fugeddaboutit. All you needa know is I'm bustin' this place up!" They had the strongest accent Arthur had ever heard in his life. Almost comical.

"Treble, destroy!"

Treble jumped forwards and tried to stab them, only to be knocked away by another explosion.

"They didn't call me BaboonKaboom for nothin'!"

"Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade! LifeSword!" Said Arthur.

Treble kept a wary distance, waiting for his enemy to make an attack. Thankfully they had no patience, immediately trying to throw another small pink bomb at him. This time Treble dashed forwards, ducking and bringing the sword up in a powerful arc that missed his enemy's chest by a fraction of a second, as they jumped back and threw another two small bombs, one from each hand. They went far, missing completely, but just as Treble was about to leap into the air and dunk him, he exploded again, launching himself higher and knocking Treble away.

"That. Is REALLY annoying!" Treble picked himself up off the floor just in time to be knocked back by another bomb, and dodging yet another one to see the trigger-happy baboon just haphazardly throwing them in every conceivable direction, not even bothering to aim.

"AquaNeedle, Thunder, Reflector2. Knock him down and keep him down."

Treble raised a hand and three needles zipped down from behind the flying monkey, stopping his explosive antics briefly. Treble was already running as they fell, and hit with the Thunder before putting all his strength into one pissed fist. even if the data between the two wasn't compatible enough to cause a bug, Treble was more than capable of doing damage with his claws and other weapons. The foe got up, and raised a shield of some kind.

"Wohahah! Try it, ya punk!" They taunted.

"Don't try it." Said Arthur. "I'll send a break chip, just give me a moment for the PET to be ready."

Treble suddenly looked to the side wildly. Arthur glanced, just in time to see someone drop-kick the baboon in the back. He went sprawling to the floor, and the newcomer managed to land on their hands and flip back upright. Arthur recognised them instantly. "The warrior from Ethan's video... No... Chroma? That you? But you have legs now..."

"Here to help!" Declared the fighter.

BaboonKaboom turned, heaving a large bomb in their general direction, only for another navi to soar over maybe-Chroma's head in a jet-assisted jump, and slash the bomb with a burning blade.

"You're gonna have a rough time taking on two fire users with bombs!" Said Ember, barely fazed by the point-blank explosion.

"Oh really? Well, Baddabing!" They clicked their fingers, and a blue bomb appeared in their hands. They pitched it forwards, and Ember dodged effortlessly, before slashing him again, and now Maybe-Chroma was also upon them.

" **Spectral Scream!"** They shouted, and a massive wave of fire washed over their enemy.

On one knee, trying to weather the assault, it was clear that BaboonKaboom was going down fighting as they cast another spell. "Badda. Boom!" A wave of multicoloured bombs materialised around them, and all rolled outwards.

"PowerBomb!" Chroma threw a small bomb at the enemy, and it promptly turned into a huge explosion, triggering the smaller bombs summoned by the last spell. Treble was swept off his feet by the force, and Chroma was forced to avert their eyes, but Ember stared down the enemy, and then brought her hands forwards and gave her knuckles an intimidating crack.

"It's over, **MasterCross!"** Said Ember. Suddenly she split into five, each copy in different armour. The copies rushed forwards, each drawing a weapon. Fists. Claws. Whips. Swords. Icicles. Nobody could have hoped to ward off the flurry of attacks that commenced, Ember knocking the wizard this way and that, and finally jumping back and all five charging power, before letting a blast of power forwards. It knocked BaboonKaboom off his feet.

"I ain't... done yet... ya punks... Big Bang!" He started to glow.

"HeroSword, go!" Called Arthur, sending the data. Treble ran forwards, drawing the golden blade of light, only to get knocked back once again.

"Ya can't... get past the blast shield in time!" Taunted the wizard.

Chroma ran forwards, and glowed for a second. "That trick won't work on us!" They declared. Arthur suddenly realised he could hear a voice from Chroma that was familiar. That was... Valerie!"

"Catch!" Treble tossed the sword's data, and Chroma caught it. They nodded, and ran forwards.

"You're done!" Shouted Chroma and Valerie. They ran forwards, shrugging off the blast shield like raindrops, and then jumped, and for a second, Arthur saw a pair of dragon wings appear behind Chroma, before they dropped down, and drove the HeroSword through BaboonKaboom. There was a crackle, and a flash of light. The attacker was gone.

"...Easy enough. But he got away." Said Chroma.

Ember looked up. "Arthur, come back to the lab. We'll explain."

* * *

Arthur got back to find Valerie sitting down. "Oh, hey. Looks like you worked out it was me in there."

"Yeah... How on earth did you- I mean, you didn't use the pulse-in machine." Said Arthur.

"It's what happens when certain people fuse with their Wizard- we can become EM waveforms." Said Valerie. "...Most people haven't seen Chroma, so I've kept a good secret identity back home. Don't spread the knowledge, okay?"

"Okay... Any idea who that attacker was?"

"No... only that they were obviously from my time."

"Well. Good." Said Ethan. Everyone gave him a confused look. "It means there must be a way for them to travel through time on demand. So if we can trace these guys, then that takes care of all our problems."

"...Fair enough." Said Blaze. "But what do we do now? They escaped pretty cleanly."

"Why were they here, anyway?" Said Lan.

"...I wish I had answers." Said Arthur.

"Then let's get some." Said Joe. "I'll go contact Denny, he has eyes everywhere. Ethan, you talk with Zero. Arthur, have Treble sniff around the area where you just had that fight. Blaze- you and Lan plot our next move, since you actually know what's going on."

"O-okay!" Said Blaze. "But what about Val?"

"Val?" Questioned Valerie. "..."

"Yeah, Val. It suits you." Said Blaze. "...Maybe we should use our... abilities, to check for any more anomalies?"

"...Alright."

"Okay everyone, move out. Team aviators will get to the bottom of this!"

* * *

"Treble, find anything?"

"Nope. I guess he must have escaped by going outside the computer, where I can't follow."

Arthur sighed. "I suppose it makes sense." He saw Ethan approaching. "Oh, did you get anything from Zero?"

"Unfortunately, no. It's as if he appeared from thin air- and he probably _did_. So annoying. Anyway, I'm heading down to the hall. If nothing comes up, want to come down to Eastfall tomorrow?"

"Well, we both know-"

"Yeah, there'll probably be a meteor strike before we get a quiet day." Smiled Ethan. "But there's going to be a concert at the mall."

"...I'll try and come. Sure. mind if I bring my friends?"

"More the merrier." Said Ethan. "Anyway, good luck getting the investigation forwards." he walked off.

"...I wonder if Valerie would mind if I asked her some questions?" Said Arthur. "...I kind of want to know what the future is like?"

"Let's go. We have to report to Blaze anyway!"

* * *

They caught up with Blaze in one of the parks. "So far, so good for anomalies. Doesn't look like we're going to have any more unexpected guests."

"Nobody could find any hints relating to where that monkey came from. Which... is quite troubling. If we can't trace them, we're sitting ducks for attacks from time travellers."

Blaze nodded. "But I can give some forewarning if someone will appear somewhere, so we won't get caught out. Hey, Valor, found anything yet?"

A disembodied voice called. "No... we can't sense any more. So far, it seems like the incident was isolated."

"Great!"

"Where is she? Is she just..."

"Well, right now she's a bunch of radio waves, so you can't see her." Said Blaze. "Although I guess if you really had to see her she could just drop out of that form and randomly appear in the park."

"It's okay. But now what? I feel like all we can do is wait for them to make a move, but that... well, we've seen how that doesn't always work."

"No, you're right. For the time being I guess I'm just going to have to spend some time getting to know my- her."

"Alright. One last question then... Could... could you ask her if she knows what happens to any of us in the future?" Said Arthur hopefully.

"I'm right here you know." Said Valor. "...Well, Joe's navi ends up as a maths teacher. I'm going to ask him for his card. See if he remembers me. Aside from that... I'm not sure."

"If you two are free tomorrow, you should come to Eastfall mall. One of Ethan's friends is putting on a concert, and I think it would be good for you to meet all our navis. Plus you can probably get some souvenirs that aren't made anymore."

"Look, I'm worrying over whether I'm going to see any of my friends again and you're talking about souvenirs!" Said Valor. "I don't think you understand how bad this is from my point of view!"

"No, you're allowed to freak out. But I think that if you can be relaxed then you'll have a better chance of success. So... well, will you come?"

"Fine, fine. But don't try and introduce me to any more people, please. I've already had to deal with... too many." Said Valor.

"Good. Well, see you tomorrow."

* * *

Sunday, Arthur was sitting on a bench in the mall while Treble ran around in it's network. "Where are they? I hope they haven't run into any trouble..."

"They'd call if they had." Reasoned Flare, as she watched Treble and Gregar just racing around the area. "...Will they ever slow down?"

"Okay, we both know Gregar would sooner wear his feet off than lose, and Treble is a naturally fast runner who has a surplus of energy."

"I just wanted to chat with him. Chatting is nice..." Murmured Flare. "Still, I wonder if she'll come into the network and say hello to us? I wonder what happened to us in the future too..."

"...Well, you are immortal within reason." Said Arthur. "We know MathMan is alive and well, and if even Gregar can't kill you, then I bet you are too. I doubt Treble or Gregar would go down either, I don't see them getting deleted short of getting stuck in an area that gets shut down or put in a PET and lost- but nobody is stupid enough to do that, so... I bet you're all fine." Arthur sighed. "Of course, I'll be long gone."

"...Sometimes I wonder what I'll do without Ethan. I... don't like to think about it much. I want these days to last forever."

"But they can't." Said Arthur. "...Well, I came here to be cheerful, so I'll leave this conversation here. How's the presentation going?"

"Ethan's been spending hours trying to learn his lines for revealing the systems. The rehearsals are tiring him out, really." Said Flare. "...Oh, here's Blaze."

Blaze strode into the mall, with Valerie in tow. "Sorry we're late! Had some train trouble."

"Understated much?" Said Valerie.

"Hey, I'd call it a learning experience!" Said Blaze. "And we now know that the portable save-your-butt machine works." She tugged her backpack.

"...There was another time traveller on the train." Said Valerie. "We've take care of it, but they got away again. I tried checking outside the network, but... I think they escaped through time."

"...It make sense, even if it gets us nowhere. The concert's starting soon."

Ethan came over, holding all three of his PETs. "Hey there. Couldn't get Joe and William?"

"They already had plans. I don't see Alicia anywhere."

"On holiday. She's halfway across the world." Said Ethan, as everyone walked up the stairs. The concert was set up just like the last one, with a few rows of chairs and a tiny stage with a backdrop. Unlike the last time, four musicians walked on, all holding instruments of their choice, and then a conductor Arthur vaguely recognised as Ethan's friend came on.

"I thought your friend was a saxophonist?" Said Blaze.

"He's multi-talented. Actually... He just really loves music. He can play the piano and the guitar too." Said Ethan.

"...So, I randomly got sent 200 years through time and just fell in with a bunch of friendly strangers who took me to see a concert. What has my life become?" Said Valerie in reflective confusion.

"I don't think it was random, honestly. Billions of people and places on earth, and you happen to end up near some of the only ones equipped to help? I bet there's a reason." Said Arthur.

"Shh, they're starting!" Said Ethan.

The band started to play, and while they didn't have the depth a whole orchestra could have provided, they all had good skill and timing, resulting in beautiful music. Arthur couldn't help but feel relaxed as a a guitar was strummed at a slow pace, while the navi provided backing sounds.

They sat and listened for a while, as the band cycled through maybe a dozen songs, before finally stopping and taking a bow.

"Nice job buddy!" Shouted Ethan at the conductor, who grinned. "So, what did you think? He pretty good, right?"

"He's something." Said Valerie. "...Does he do this for a living?"

"No, but I'm sure he could." Said Ethan. "...Anyway, want to check out the mall? Or you could meet our navis."

Valerie considered it for a moment. "...I'm either stuck here forever, or never going to see this place again. Let's go and look around the shops. Maybe I can find something antique."

They wandered around for a while. Valerie was fairly quiet, but Blaze seemed to have made it her personal quest to give the girl a good time in the past. She pointed out at least a dozen shops, and nearly dragged Valerie into some of them. Valerie didn't buy a thing until finally coming into a laid-back shop full of cooking equipment.

"I always liked home cooking." Said Valerie.

"Hey, me too." Said Blaze. "We've got a family recipe for banana bread. I always have to get Burn to cook it, I'm not that good myself."

"In the future, a lot of people have automated kitchens. It's impossible to find any new stuff for mine without paying way too much to get it from a specialist." She took some scales, and an electric whisk.

"If you cook, you should buy a cookbook." Said Ethan. "I bet some recipes have been lost to time."

"Even with the net to record them?" Questioned Arthur.

Valerie took a cookbook from a shelf and opened it. "...I recognise most of these."

"There's only really one other shop you might be interested in. No wait, two." Said Ethan. "Clothes or tea?"

"Tea? I thought that was... always kind of upper-class, I guess. And I have plenty of clothes." Said Valerie.

"Well, you don't have plenty in this period of time." Said Arthur. "You'll have to wash them eventually."

"Are you suggesting I need to wash my clothes?" Valerie suddenly sounded like she was about to murder someone.

"N-no! No!" Arthur instantly went bright red. "I didn't mean it that way!"

"Kidding." Valerie finally smiled, for the first time since everyone had known her. "It's been three days and I've been in battle a ton. I guess I do need some more."

Arthur internally went out of panic mode. "Okay... well, your choice as to where you go first then."

An hour later, everyone was sitting outside the tea stall, with tea. With the exception of Ethan, who was drinking coffee. "Well then, what should we do now?" Said Ethan. "We don't really have any leads to follow for this, so..."

"Well, when we encountered the time traveller on the train here, they did let something a bit weird slip." Said Blaze. "...They sounded like they were trying to stop someone doing something- but... well, the weird thing is is that they never mentioned they were trying to prevent something."

"This... well, finally some important information!" Said Arthur. "Now we know they're trying to stop something, then it's probably something major one of us will do, right?"

"Right." Said Ethan. "...And I bet that's my reveal." he sipped his coffee.

"Don't jump to conclusions. Why would they bring me here if they wanted to stop you?" Said Valerie.

Ethan frowned. "Hmm... Yeah, that makes no sense..."

"For the time being, Ethan can just be on guard. The reveal's the day after tomorrow, so that's not long to wait." Said Arthur. "Until then, I guess we should just get ready to make sure it goes smoothly? I'm happy to go backstage and be security."

"Same here." Said Blaze.

"Thanks. And most of my friends will be in the crowd, plus Lan and his lot. Security should be pretty good, and you'll see a time-traveller coming, so... should be fine. Aw c'mon Ethan. You don't get nervous over something like this." He told himself. "Anyway... there's one other thing we could do while we're here before we all go home."

"Oh?"

"Do you want to go and speak with our navis?" Said Ethan. "Pretty sure we've all been thinking it, right? Not like they see humans in person often. Electromagnetic humans from the future? That's got to be a once-in-existence chance."

Valerie nodded. "I'm not wave changing here though. Too many people."

"Here's the machine, if you want to just go and stand behind that tree. I'll pick it up." Blaze held out her backpack.

"Machine?" Said Arthur.

"The portable save-your-butt machine." Said Blaze. "It just makes something called a wave hole for a few seconds."

"...I think portable hole would be a better name." Said Ethan. "But okay."

Valerie took hold of the backpack and wandered off. Arthur faintly heard her call out 'Val Ayaka, on the air!', and then a few seconds later Treble perked up.

"I smell her. Yeah, there she is!" He pointed over to Valor, as they walked over.

"...You know, I've literally never socialised as Valor before." They said. "This is our battle form."

"It's nice to see a human again though. And you're probably much more resistant to bugs than Arthur if you're wearing that Chroma guy."

"...I never really thought of it as wearing him." Said Valerie. "...Weird thought. So... wow, there's quite a few of you. Let's see... Treble... Ember... and I swear that one in black is called Alias."

"Right!" Said Alias. "The other two here are Gregar and Flare."

"Hello." Said Flare.

"Hey." Said Gregar.

"...Which is which?" Said Valor.

"Gregar is the wolf, Flare is the falcon." Said Alias.

Valor offered a handshake to Gregar, the closer one. He somewhat awkwardly took it. "So normally I get to know people by battling them, but... hmm..." He sighed. "Guess you'd have to log out if I won. Maybe next time."

"Can..." Valor narrowed her eyes. " Okay, two canines, can either of them be petted or is that condescending?"

"There are exactly two beings in the world that are allowed to pet me without losing their hand, and you're neither."

"Yes! Yes!"

"Valerie, I don't know about this. We should at least try and be cool or something." Echoed Chroma. "This isn't a petting zoo. And, uh... I'm feeling a hint of something..."

"Shh." Said Valerie.

Arthur noticed Flare glaring just a little, but decided not to bring that up. Valerie gently touched Treble's head.

"Heh, and to think we were trying to kill each other about two days ago, eh Chroma?" Said Treble.

"Oh, the frills are squishy." Said Valerie. "...Huh. This definitely does not feel like a normal dog. Wolf. Whatever."

"So what do you want to see in the cyberworld?" Asked Flare. "There are viruses, if you want to do some easy fights."

"I used a fair amount of energy this morning in battle, no thanks. Are there any sights to see?"

"...Central area's statues?" Offered Ember. "Although if you just wander around, then I suppose this will all be new to you."

"...Yeah. Might as well make the most of this opportunity, before we all go home for today. Guide me."

 **Author's notes: I feel like there are spelling errors in this but I'm too tired to root them out. College. I love my college but it can be tiring sometimes.**


	52. Chapter 52: Nobody

Monday was training day, as it had been for two and a half months. Arthur went for an early-morning jog. Prior to starting to train as a guard that would have been unthinkable, now it was routine to do that every day he could. Next he had a few courses he needed to do on the net.

First aid went smoothly, Arthur didn't have a particular talent for it but it all made sense. Identifying suspicious objects was the course Arthur personally struggled with. How was he supposed to know what he should be looking for from every visitor, when he only had around five seconds to look at each one? Nonetheless, his ability to observe had been improving these last few weeks. Then he went over to the gym across town and spent a few hours getting taught Judo. He would never admit it, but he was secretly getting impatient over when he'd get noticable muscles. Even if his strength had increased.

He was walking out of the gym with sore arms when the PET beeped. Treble opened the message. "Hey, it's Denny. 'Can you come down to the police station? I need to tell you some things.'"

"Oh? That's interesting, he wouldn't call us if it wasn't serious..." Said Arthur. "I bet it's about Blaze and Valerie."

"Heh, watch it be something completely different now you've said it. Let's go!"

* * *

"Denny, what can I do for you?" Arthur stepped into the police station's computer room. While it had been nice in summer, as it turned out the winter insulation was useless, leaving the room uncomfortably cold.

Denny spun on a swivel chair. "I have some information to pass on to you. First and foremost, what do you know about the legendary civilization of Mu?"

"...Literally nothing. I've never heard the name before. Treble?"

"Nope."

Denny nodded. "As it should be, really- I've used every last trick at my disposal, and I barely have anything apart from the name. But I believe that Blaze might know something- if you could convince her to share it for me?"

"She takes her secrets seriously... Speaking of which! Why are you spying on her like this? You two trust each other!"

"...Because that's how I protect things- I did the same for you, to make sure Eurasia never took you by surprise. But also because time is of the essence. I don't have the time to convince her."

"...Ethan's presentation, right?"

"Yes. However these FM-ians strike, it only makes sense it would be then, especially since so many historically important figures are attending."

"Woah woah, what?" Said Treble. "FM-ians? Historically important?"

Denny sighed. "The time travellers were referred to as FM-ians by Valerie, when Blaze was questioning her. I also took the liberty of analysing every last word Valerie has said even remotely near a microphone- which took tracking down dozens of navis- and I am absolutely sure that Lan has a world-changing role in the future. If he's stopped from playing that role..."

"Time paradox?"

"Yes. And what would that do?" Said Denny. "It's a question I can't answer. But the risks are too much. So I want you to know everything possible, so you might be able to make sure everything goes as it should."

"Right. What's your plan?"

"The building has three entrances in the physical world and two in the cyber world. MegaMan alone can easily take on a whole army of these enemies, but if they use a wave changer then they could appear in the middle of the room by running from him, So I've got Joe and William's navis already stationed at those entrances, and Zero's cameras monitoring the whole area- they will NOT get in there. Physical world is the problem. Three entrances, but only you and William are physically capable of fighting someone if it comes to that."

"...Are you sure they have any human aid? So far I've only seen navis."

"It's a common tactic not to show your hand until you have an opportunity. It's the same reason why people are taught not to open fights with their strongest attacks- it means that the enemy have a chance to learn how to counter it."

"...That makes sense. Can we just lock and bar an entrance?"

"Good idea, but if that fails then we can't react. I might go and park a car in front of it, since they'd trip the alarm by forcing it."

"You're not old enough to dr- never mind. So what else do I need to know?"

Beta called from the computer. "Gregar's duelling Valor. Should I focus on the duel, or make sure no FM-ians get close?"

"...The duel. Zero will warn us if an attacker gets near." Denny refocused on Arthur. "So, what strategy would you propose? The meeting will last half an hour. Here's a map I printed. Jack-in ports are here, here and here, and the two entrances we could block are here and here. No need to worry about fire exits, it's easy to leave through the main door."

"Hmm..." Arthur studied the map. "Block this exit in the side corridor, because that's out of the way nobody should normally even see it. I should go by the backstage entrance, since then I can be near Ethan to intervene if things go really badly, and I know him better so I can hopefully convince him to stay back from anything dangerous. Leaving William to the front entrance."

Denny smiled. "My thoughts exactly. Let's watch the end of their duel. Maybe we'll learn something."

They turned to see the wave changer sent flying across the field, but not knocked out. Gregar opened his hand and a blue seed appeared. He tossed it in Valor's direction; she instinctively dodged the attack, thinking the projectile was a bomb. To her surprise when the seed hit, ice spread covering the entire field. She tried to move but her bulky armour was not meant for ice skating. Valor slipped and fell face first onto the ice.

"Ice. Why did it have to be ice?" Val groaned.

"Focus." Chroma told her. "I am _not_ letting this dinosaur of a wizard beat me." He growled.

Valor stood up and watched Gregar. The cybeast had yet to move after making the ice field. He unsheathed his buster and aimed it at her. He fired several rounds towards her. Val tried to move, but slipped once again on the ice. To her relief the fall had in fact helped her avoid the buster fire. Gregar sheathed his buster and began skating across the ice.

Val stood up shakily trying to avoid another mouth full of ice. She noticed the rapidly approaching wolf and shot some kind of advanced Thunder at him. Gregar recognized the threat and immediately changed his course. The plasma ball tried to chase him, but the ice had helped improve his speed, so he easily avoided it by skating around the area, not needing aqua element thanks to simply picking straight routes. Gregar easily maneouvered around the area skating behind Valor. The wave changer had nearly regained her balance when Gregar literally jumped on her back; pushing her with his weight; back into the icy floor.

Chroma and Val were really getting tired with the wolf's antics. They huffed as their armour took on a blue colour scheme. Valor spread her wings and lifted of the floor in a single beat, before dispelling them. She tossed up three cards and ate them. The aqua armoured navi sent a powerful wave across the field. Gregar noticed and jumped over the first one, and then became aware of the other two heading his way.

Trying his best, he managed to jump over the second wave, most of his body avoided the attack, with the exception of the tip of his tail. He had avoid freezing his whole body, but his tail was frozen in the ground, preventing him from jumping. He watch the last wave approach and in the last second he slammed his fist down activating Geddon. The field cracked up in an instant, ridding itself of all ice panels. Gregar took the tidal wave head on, getting pushed back only slightly. However seeing his tail get stretched like a rope made Treble wince in pain, even if their equivalent of nervous systems were far less extreme. He looked up seeing his tail still stuck to the ice and Valor charging up another Spectral Scream. He tried teleporting via areasteal but it didn't work. He also considered transforming but his Geddon had broken all his panels, limiting his movement. Hurriedly he moved to try and claw away the ice without damaging himself in the process.

Valor launched the Scream and Gregar could only stare as the the attack approached him. 'Looks like I have no choice." He said simply, as the attack struck him.

Valor pressed on; she wasn't going to make the same mistake as everyone else and underestimate the wolf's power. He had survived attacks before because he fire could match the blast from her normal form. In her aqua form, her attack should deal roughly twice as much damage to his fire breath than before. She focused putting more energy into the attack, completely oblivious the thunder and lighting that flashed alongside a wolf's howl.

The Spectral Scream had completely enveloped Gregar, but the cybeast had used his cybeast legacy to its fullest. He activate beast out and was now running through the attack with full force. He reached the attack source, Val and pushed his arms through the scream grabbing her by her shoulders. Using Val, who still continued the Spectral Scream, as a support he pulled his head right above hers. Both Val and Chroma's eyes opened in horror as the cybeast smirked at them with his jagged face.

Chroma's wizard form appeared above the two of them and attempted to attack Gregar only to be intercepted by Gregar's damage tail, which immediately disappeared in flash of blue pixels as it struck.

"How?" Chroma asked.

Gregar answered with a charge of lightning through his body, before giving Valor an electrically charged headbutt. The wave changer staggered back as she was paralyzed and she reverted into her normal fire form. A frozen blade appeared in the cybeast's arm as he swiped Valor. The blade's aqua element did even more damage and encased her in a block of ice. Gregar looked up at the frozen EM human. "Because I'm Gregar, and I've fought for my life since the day I was born." Gregar announced as he started to concentrate all his remaining power into his last attack.

"Program Advance, Boost!" Gregar yelled, as the aura manifested around his body. Unlike the normal boost aura which was blue, Gregar's aura went a bluish green as he transformed to his true CB form. Gregar charged forwards, amplifying his size and force immensely, focusing all his power into a blunt attack at Val's chest. The king-size headbutt connected and Val was forcefully logged out as Gregar's smash launched her like a kicked ball. If his mouth had been open, she'd have been swallowed whole.

Gregar ground to a halt, and collapsed almost immediately, his armour practically fell apart and disappeared leaving him with huge wounds and data just flowing out of him, turning to blue dust on an artificial wind. His tail had almost completely disintegrated and his right foreleg was badly messed up in several places. Without bothering to even change back, he lay his head down and started losing consciousness, throwing out a haphazard 'I'm fine'.

"He... tries too hard for his own good sometimes." Said Arthur.

"Eh, we can heal from pretty much anything." Reminded Treble. "I think it would hurt Gregar more if he had to concede."

"True. If that wolf has any weakness, then it's not knowing when it's okay to just lose." Said Denny. "Did you make any observations worth having?"

"She can change her element." Said Arthur. "That makes her much, much more dangerous, since any enemy with an element is going to get countered."

"Agreed. Adaptability is a severely underrated tool- just look at MegaMan." Said Denny. "I'll analyse the playback and see if I can get any more information. You just rest up for tomorrow- I want you in peak condition. Beta, what's the status of E-B through E-E?"

"E-B's just left the airport. Home within ten minutes. E-C is unchanged, E-D..."

Arthur waved. "I'll get prepared..." He was about to leave, when he turned. "...Denny, I'm thankful for what you do. I don't think people appreciate the people who pull strings for good enough."

"I don't hear that often." Said Denny. "...But thank you. Now I'm serious. Prepare yourself, while I co-ordinate things with Chaud so you don't clash with his security."

* * *

The fateful tuesday was a grey day. Sun was rarer in November, but Arthur didn't mind. Ever since he'd met Treble, his opinion of the colour grey had improved a lot. He stepped onto the train, and looked out of the windows.

"Nervous?" Asked Treble.

"Very. I keep having an irrational fear of a shooter..."

"Only the military have guns. And even they're only handed out when they're needed." Reminded Treble. "Although didn't Wily build some once? I'm sure I read it somewhere..."

"I suppose it would be better to just dwell on the likely. Someone in the audience will probably try something... Although at least I can rule out all the ones that would really hurt people. We're on high alert, they're not getting anything in they shouldn't. And I know most of the audience, from Scilabs. Just a few important city people that I don't... the mayor will be there, you know."

"Hey, isn't the previous Mayor Flare's dad?"

"...No, I don't think so. He's in jail for... a lot of stuff. Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, Flare told me. No wait, the previous mayor's grandfather made Flare. Although she's still not that thankful for it, after how that worked out."

"She wouldn't have met you if she didn't exist."

"Heh, she said that too." Said Treble. "...I really want to spend more time with her. I know I see her a lot anyway, but... well, I miss her pretty quickly. But is that too, um, sticky of me? I know she needs space, but I don't want to be distant and stuff."

"Just a part of love. And it's better to doubt yourself than to just have unlimited confidence and march straight into a terrible mistake."

"True that. So... do you think the official guards are going to be competent?"

"Hey, they're normally pretty good. The problem is that you can't really mass-produce navis strong enough for them not to get stomped in the cyberworld, hence their reputation for needing an 11-year-old to solve most of their problems."

"...Hah, you make it sound like he didn't single-handedly delete pretty much every godlike program on the net. Even Gregar only beats him in practice matches occasionally."

The scenery outside stopped moving and the train hissed as it cooled. "Well. Looks like we're here, so lets get down to the hall."

* * *

The build-up to the presentation was simple enough, Arthur walked in through the same door Ethan and Wily were using, onto the side of the stage. "Good luck."

"Luck is for the ill-prepared." Said Wily. "...But given my track record against an eleven year old, perhaps it couldn't hurt."

"Thanks."

Arthur watched as people filed into the hall, quickly filling the fifty-something seats. Everything seemed to be going as planned. Denny had parked a huge car in front of the door they didn't want used, so there would be absolutely no way in there. Arthur couldn't focus on any one person for any kind of suspicious behaviour, but they all seemed good. Chaud's security seemed fairly good too, arranged in such a way that it appeared there weren't many of them, so as not to raise concerns- even if a careful eye would reveal they were ready for anything. The lighting focused onto the stage, and Ethan and Wily walked out to moderate applause.

Ethan took hold of the mic, and turned it on. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I've called you all here to reveal what I believe is the next step in net society- but I know that neither me nor Wily have been the most trustworthy to you people in the past, so I'll explain everything I can about it beforehand- there's nothing to worry about. Before I start, a few words from my mentor and co-worker." He passed the mic to Wily, stepping away from his podium.

Wily cleared his throat. "I... am grateful for the chance you have given me, everybody. It is better than I deserve. I would not have showed myself such mercy. I hope that my effort goes some way towards backing up my promises of a change of heart. Lan Hikari. You have changed my future for the better. That is all." The words were obviously rehearsed, but undoubtedly ones that Wily had written himself. He handed the spotlight back to Ethan, and stepped back, as Ethan launched into an explanation.

A few minutes passed as Ethan talked a little about how the system had been coded on the basic level, before putting Flare onto a screen briefly and explaining how he was translating her power into energy the systems could use.

Arthur stood with his arms behind his back at the very side of the stage. So far Ethan's presentation had been wonderful, going into technical yet understandable details of how the systems worked, stayed ethical, had failsafes against hacking and could run on the cybeasts' power indefinitely. Arthur just did his best to look professional in his security outfit, and to avoid distracting from the show.

The setup was good too, Wily having paid for a second curtain to go around the computer that he could roll back, although the doctor himself had kept out of the spotlight for the most part, still widely distrusted by the public even if Scilabs kept him on a very tight leash.

Ethan finished speaking, Arthur missing the words as he intently scanned the audience for any sign of trouble. Everyone was behaving, and most looked absolutely riveted to Ethan's explanation- even Valerie, who had possibly grown up with this technology. He'd really managed to make the concepts understandable. Arthur couldn't help but think he'd make a good university professor.

"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen!" Ethan sounded brimming with hope, as Wily took hold of a cord on the side of the curtains. "I am proud to present, the Colonel and Iris Systems, mark one!"

Arthur kept looking around, as the curtains opened. Nothing was going wrong. Relief was rising inside him, too, at the display going off without a hitch.

Then he saw Valerie clap her hands over her mouth, and Blaze jumped out of her chair, shouting. "ETHAN, GET BAC-"

Arthur's head snapped around to see Ethan... and the systems. Nothing seemed wrong, until Arthur connected the dots.

Blaze could see the time travel waves, but not through walls.

There had been a curtain in the way of part of the room for several days now, and she hadn't checked under it out of respect for Ethan.

There was likely to be an attack of some kind today.

And as Arthur looked closely, he realised he could actually see some kind of haze in the air next to the systems.

"Oh-" He was cut off. Because in a split second that haze blossomed into a huge, deep blue rift with a sound like a drum the size of a planet getting struck by a meteor. And it enveloped the stage with Ethan on it easily. Arthur was sent stumbling off the stage, and fell onto the floor just in time to see Blaze jump straight in fearlessly, Valerie hot on her heels. He picked himself up, just as Lan too went running after them on impulse.

"Guys! Wait!" Called Lan.

"LAN, NO!" Shouted Arthur, trying to tackle Lan. He collided, but he was already right next to the rift and even if he was physically fit, Lan had momentum and Arthur had just been knocked off a stage. They fell into the rift together.

* * *

The first thing Arthur did was throw up. It was like being catapulted through a river of glue, physics clearly having walked in, shaken its head and walked straight back out. He hit a solid surface with a bump, and groaned. "Treble... you here?"

"Yeah, the clip held." Said Treble, still fixed to the outside of the jacket. "No bones broken? What the unholy macaroni just happened...?"

"Gonna be sore." Arthur got up and then took a double take. "Oh my god. I... you're seeing this too, right? I'm not hallucinating?"

Arthur was standing in some kind of surrealist's dream. The floor he was standing on was a pavement, suspended in space. He was breathing just fine. And that was before you considered the random shapes and lines whizzing about. Arthur ducked as a bright yellow octahedron flew overhead, only for an orange- yes, the fruit- to bump into him as if chasing it, while he could hear a faint 'aaaa' calling from it.

"...Space? Weird shapes?" Confirmed Treble.

"What, in the name of Bass, Gregar, MegaMan, and all else that is feared and respected on the net, just happened?" Said Arthur.

"No idea. I... guess we should go explore. Ethan must be around here too. And Lan and Blaze and Valerie."

Arthur started walking. "...This isn't the normal kind of attack of those FM-ians used. This... this is some kind of alternate reality by the looks of it."

"No kidding. Do you think it was like... a time travel bomb? Is this somewhere in the future?"

"Well, if briefly, Blaze did see it coming." Reasoned Arthur. "Oh no..." A fork in the road. "Oh, that's bad. Fifty-fifty chance to get hopelessly lost in this place."

"Well, pick a path and follow it quickly. Standing around won't do anything, after all. Some chance is better than none!"

"...You're right." Arthur went right, looking around at space, and the miscellaneous junk floating through it. He walked for a while, before coming to a crossroads. "This just keeps getting worse..."

"Hey, I can see something over there though." Said Treble. "Look, it's on the left."

Arthur sat down. "Look, I'm... freaking out a bit right now. I wasn't at all prepared for this today. This place is just... it's eerie."

"Yeah, even the net doesn't have anywhere quite like this." Agreed Treble. "...Things might be easier if I was the one in here, and you were operating like normal."

"Oh, that makes me think... you... you don't suppose there are going to be viruses around this place do you?" Said Arthur. "I don't know if I can take them on."

"Well, we'll deal with that when we come to it. I... Arthur, do you think Flare will be okay?"

"I don't know. Ethan was the only person that actually got caught by that blast."

"I'm scared for her."

"...I know. Come on, I'll push on. Hopefully if we just keep exploring then we'll get lucky." Arthur got up, and walked along the left path. "...Hmm... what is that? Some kind of portal?" As he got closer, he could see it was some kind of rift, like the one that had brought him here. Arthur realised the previous one had been a blue like the space that surrounded him now, while this one was a black, glimmering with many multicoloured specks. "Should I jump in?"

"I don't have a better idea. Maybe it's a way out?" Suggested Treble.

Arthur took two steps backwards, then ran and jumped. He hit the rift and phased right through. The world spun and rolled around him for a split second, and he hit the ground.

The area around him had changed drastically. Arthur could see faint, dim crystals embedded into stone walls everywhere, and as Arthur looked up he confirmed he was in a cave network of some kind.

"Just what in the world is going on?" He questioned. "I..." He turned around, and saw a rift behind him. "Okay, phew, at least we can double back if we need to."

"Why are we in a cave now?" Said Treble. "This isn't anything like space."

"And why are all these crystals glowing? I appreciate the light, but..." Arthur started walking. "...This just doesn't make me think of anywhere on earth. But at the same time, these tunnels are well-shaped for a human to walk through."

"I'm gonna start recording a map of this place." Said Treble. "Maybe we can avoid going in circles this way."

"Good thinking." Arthur kept venturing.

Time passed.

"I'm... starting to get a bit thirsty." Said Arthur. "...I hope there's something to drink in this place."

"Back in that crazy space place there were a few food items flying around. You could try catching some of them."

"...Maybe I'll have to." Said Arthur. "...Wait. Do you sense something?"

"Uh... like what?"

"I'm not sure. It's like a tingling of some sort..." Said Arthur.

"Oh, I feel something! It's like that pushing feeling from the other day!" Treble lit up.

'Sssth...'

Arthur looked around. "That... was that...? Hello? Is someone there?"

'Sssth...'

"That's definitely a hissing sound." Said Treble. "Where's it coming from?"

"I don't mean any harm." Called Arthur. "...Hmm."

'Sssth...'

Arthur clicked his fingers. "It's the same feeling I got from Chroma. Chroma? That you?"

'This... way...'

Arthur looked to the side. "I'm not losing my mind?"

"Yeah, I heard it too. Guess we'd better follow the creepy voice."

Arthur set off along a tunnel, walking fast. "Where are you guiding me? Who, or what, are you?"

'Et non nocuerunt...'

"What?" Said Arthur.

'Sssth...'

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't english." Said Treble. "But the translator didn't get it either."

Arthur came out into a small cave. The light was dim, like the rest of this place, but his eyes had long since adjusted, and the PET facing outwards helped illuminate the scene. Arthur was about to walk through when someone caught his eye. Not something, someone.

"Ethan? Is that you?! Are you hurt?!" Arthur knelt, and saw purple hair. "Whew..." He hadn't expected to need his first aid training so soon, and rolled the person over. Steady pulse. Breathing okay. "Treble, I need more light." The PET lit up. Arthur saw the person more clearly. They were a man, to his slight surprise, maybe early twenties or late teens? They had a few scratches on their face, like they'd had it rubbed onto the floor. Their clothing seemed bizarre, a beige sort of cloth cloak, and tough boots and trousers that looked very well-suited to caving or exploring otherwise. Arthur swept all those observations to the side as he noticed a red stain on their left shoulder, and quickly moved the cloak away to see a shard of crystal had gone through his clothing and cut him. "Hey Treble, can I get a second opinion before I do something?"

"You're the guy with the medical knowledge, but okay."

"Right, so normally you shouldn't take out something like this because it'll increase the bleeding, but I can't leave it in for a professional to come and help, because there are no professionals here. So... do I take it out and then bandage, or let it set a bit before I take it out? And I want to clean it out to make sure he doesn't get infected or anything, but we need water or alcohol."

"...Take him back to the space place." Said Treble. "We might be able to snag something from the junk."

"Agreed." Arthur carefully lifted the unconscious man, and slung him over his back. Even with strength training, it was quite a load to bear. "Ungh... Whew." Arthur started trudging back along the path he'd come, careful not to bash the man on any of the sides of the tunnels. He could still feel that tingling, but was too concerned with his unexpected patient to care. He was about halfway back when fatigue really started to hit from carrying the man. "How does he... weigh so much... He's not fat at all..."

"Maybe he's just muscly? They weigh more, remember."

"Must be. Anyway... I can't... give up..." Arthur kept trudging forwards, internally cursing as he came to a slight upwards slope. It felt like an eternity before he finally came back to the cave he'd started in, the rift still open, to his relief. "Okay... here goes!" Arthur took a few heavy steps forwards and jumped through.

He landed with a stagger at the weight, before looking around. Back in the crazy space place. Good. He set down the patient and looked around at the streams of miscellaneous items floating by. Some were abstract, some were blatantly useless, and a very good portion were everyday items. Arthur was looking for something he could use. Strong alcohol or pure water. He jumped up and grabbed a carton of apple juice. Perhaps no good for cleaning a wound, but he was thirsty. Then he dropped it and lunged, firmly catching a bottle of water. He twisted the cap off, and knelt.

"...Let's hope it's not a deep cut. Although it doesn't seem to be..." Said Arthur. He thought for a second, before taking off his jacket, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt and pulling as hard as he could until it tore off. One makeshift bandage. He carefully placed his hand on the crystal, and gave it a very gentle push to the side. It easily shifted, implying it wasn't deep, so Arthur took a breath and stepped outside his realm of training, pulling it out. The wound started bleeding again, but wasn't moving fast, so Arthur poured out some water, rinsing it off, trying to get the dirt he could out. The crystal seemed clean, at least. After he'd done what he could, he pressed the bandage over it, and tied it tightly. "...Well, that's all I can do. I'd better stay with him until he wakes up."

"Gather some food and drink." Suggested Treble.

* * *

An hour passed. Arthur had built up a small pile of supplies. He'd even snagged a blanket from the stream of items. "...Maybe I should pour some water on him, see if that revives him?"

"Try it." Said Treble.

Arthur took the half-empty bottle and drizzled it on the man's forehead. "Wake up. Wake uuup."

They stirred. "Hey, it worked!" Said Treble.

"Aegis..." They mumbled. "Attend me."

'Ego adsum'

"Hello there?" Said Arthur. "Are you awake now?"

The man sighed, then coughed and sat up abruptly. "Where did that cur send me?!" They turned, and fixed Arthur with an intense stare. "...Who are you? I- ah!" He clutched the bandage, before letting go quickly, more surprised than pained.

"I found you unconscious, with this stabbed into your arm." Arthur held up the sliver of crystal. "...It's probably going to be sore."

"...Thank you. Where is this place? It's not like the wave roads." Their voice was forceful and commanding.

"Truthfully, I don't know. A rift of some kind appeared and caught me off guard, and it sucked some of my friends in. I'm here looking for them, but no luck so far. What's your name?"

"I am Nobody."

"Like, that's your actual name?"

Nobody nodded once. "And you are?"

"My name is Arthur."

Nobody smiled. "Like the king?"

"...It's been a long time since I heard that legend." Said Arthur. "But, well, I'm no swordfighter. I hope I don't run into any enemies in this place. Treble's a strong navi, but he can't come out and fight for me."

"Navi?" Questioned Nobody. "...That technology is quite outdated, I assure you."

"Oh, are you from 22XX as well? Someone appeared in my time from there, a few days before the rift."

"...I see."

"So, what are you going to do? If we can stick together, then I'd like to. Safety in numbers."

"I will have my revenge." Said Nobody flatly. "Whoever threw me into this world will suffer dearly for their insult."

"Well, as long as it means we can work together. Do you want to wait here and recover, or- Oh, okay." Arthur changed his tune as Nobody stood briskly, and stretched, completely ignoring his injury.

"Let's have a meal and move out. None can stand against me." Declared Nobody.

"...Okay. We'll help each other out from here forwards." Said Arthur. "By the way, who's Aegis?"

"Aegis is my companion." Said Nobody. "My sword and shield as I require."

"Okay. Then... let's prepare and head out. Good to have you, Nobody."

 **Author's notes: So there's an actual reason he's called Nobody, it's a reference to an old legend. If anybody thinks they know it, feel free to take a guess. And here we have plot. It should advance over the next few chapters.**

 **Reviewer answer!**

 **JaneValentine007: Advanced education is far more tiring than I was led to believe- but I enjoy it a lot more. A pretty good trade, IMO.**


	53. Chapter 53: Guardian

"So, do you have any idea how to navigate this place?" Arthur was walking behind Nobody, studying the map Treble was recording. So far they hadn't doubled back at all, and had travelled through three rifts. Arthur was carrying the food and drink he'd collected from the space area.

"...Alas, no." Said Nobody. "This place is laden with EM waves. Every warp is a suitable location to transform."

"So you're able to change like her, right?"

"Yes."

They kept walking. "If only we had some way of knowing where we're going..." Arthur looked at the current area, some kind of bridge over an ocean. "And of course, why all the floor is set out like this. I've barely seen any openings."

"It is... suspicious, I concur." Said Nobody.

"Hey, I have a question?"

"Speak."

"Do you have a transer anywhere? Or some kind of equivalent? I can't see one..."

"I do not need one."

"Oh. Then, where does Aegis stay?"

"With me. EM lifeforms don't need any kind of support to exist."

"...That makes sense now I think about it. So... tell me about yourself."

"I would prefer not to."

"You're not going to be like Bass are you?" Called Treble. "Seriously, it took sharing a body with that guy for me to become the one person he wouldn't kill on sight."

"It sounds like you've led interesting lives thus far." Commented Nobody.

"...Yeah, I think so. I would like to be friends with you, you know, if only because we definitely can't be enemies." Reasoned Arthur.

"And if I refuse?"

"...I don't know. But let's not run off from each other. Things should be easier like this, right? Two chances to notice anything, two people for each fight, and two opinions for each problem."

"It's a valid point."

"So... well, I guess allies would be a better term then."

"Very well. Consider me an ally if you wish."

They continued to travel.

* * *

Almost two hours later, Nobody suddenly halted, and held a hand to the side, signalling Arthur to stop. It was now a world of clouds below their feet, while they walked on a thick stream of rain that formed a large path with sides that curved up. Arthur had been fairly surprised to touch the side of the curve and take away a dry hand, even if the water felt wet.

"Something wrong?" Called Treble.

"Aegis, are you sure?" Nobody said towards the air. "Wave changers five minutes from us, on a bearing of 300."

"Bearing?" Said Arthur.

"Oh, I know those!" Went Treble. "It's pretty simple. Just rotate clockwise by the number of degrees. That's the bearing."

Arthur did a tiny spot of mental maths and looked over in the direction. "...Hmm. I don't see anything at the moment, but I trust you. Let's hurry."

They set off at a run. Arthur looked ahead. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice. "You can't kill me! You can't even hurt me!"

"Ethan!" Arthur looked over to Nobody. "Okay, help me protect the guy in the suit!"

"...We shall see."

They ran into a clearing for Arthur to see Ethan fighting against... something. Apparently he'd followed through with his claims of making a force-field around his suit, and it was a good thing too, as huge insect-like being's attack bounced off his shield. Ethan tried to punch back, but achieved nothing. Arthur got a closer look at the attacker. Definitely based on a butterfly, now that he could see them clearly. Thin legs and minimal armour on their body, but large, vibrant wings and a helmet with two antennae and a mouth curl. They were about to attack again with some kind of throwing weapon, maybe a shuriken, when Arthur hit them at full speed, putting himself into a full-power rugby tackle. Even if they were made of EM waves, they'd obviously made themselves physically tangible to try and attack Ethan, and Arthur sent them a good few steps to the side before they threw him off.

"Today... is _not_ your lucky day, it seems?" They commented, with an insufferably pompous female voice. Arthur got to his feet and narrowly avoided getting stabbed by one of the shuriken, dropping to all fours. Arthur noted they were shaped like little butterfly cut-outs. He was really starting to suspect this woman had a thing for them.

'Fluctus mutare. Pantheon, in aerem!'

There was a flash of light from the side. Arthur couldn't help but take a glance, seeing a surge of crimson energy rapidly fade where Nobody had been. In their place was a warrior in armour. Arthur thought the design looked ancient in many ways- decidedly greek, or maybe roman? A thick red cloak was wrapped around their shoulders, a strong helmet covered their whole head and hid their face, and they had a short sword in one hand, a round shield on the other arm. Said shield had a large snake's head embossed onto the front, with two glowing red eyes. Arthur suddenly felt afraid. No, terrified of this shield. Like a deep-seated part of him screamed to run. But instead he was paralysed, rooted to the spot. The warrior walked forwards, and raised their sword towards the butterfly foe.

"Are you the one who interrupted our duel?"

"And just who do you think you are, to ask such a thing of _me_?" Scoffed the woman.

"I am Pantheon. You don't deny it?"

"Hmph. A child playing dress-up. You are truly a fool to believe you can do anything to stop me? I will eliminate the targets I have, and nobody will get in my way."

"I will have my answer." Said Pantheon.

"You can pry it from my cold, dead heart, you baseborn. You shall regret the day you crossed Beauty Butterfly's path!"

"Of course she called herself that." Deadpanned Ethan.

"Very well." Pantheon took a fighting stance. In a sudden sleight of hand, he flicked some kind of card into the air, and held his shield forwards. The mouth of the snake opened, appearing to suck in the card, and then closed shut. "Take the first move."

"Handicapping yourself? Ha!" the other wave changer stepped back and three more shuriken appeared in her hand. She jumped up and threw them in a spread pattern, and suddenly Pantheon was moving. His shield technique flawlessly blocked all three projectiles, and then he ran forwards, shield raised. Butterfly almost seemed to freeze up as she looked at it, and then she tried to attack with some kind of dagger. Pantheon's sword flashed with expert timing, the first blow stopping the enemy's attack dead, the second disarming and sending the EM dagger spinning far out of their grip. Pantheon was deadly calm, and anticipating the quick shuriken his opponent tried to throw made his third strike a shield bash, sending her stumbling back.

"Battle card." Intoned Pantheon. Suddenly his sword took on a bright white light, and he appeared to simply warp forwards and slash in a cross, before stabbing again, performing one more masterful block, and slicing down in a solid arc, cleaving through the guard his enemy had put up.

"Y-You insolent... pretentious...!"

"Divine storm!" Pantheon held his blade next to his chest, pointing to the sky, and raised it. There was a second of thrashing wind, even where Arthur was, four times further away. Arthur was buffeted by the wind enough for him to feel like his face was going to be ripped off, but not nearly as much as Butterfly, who was suddenly _struck by lightning._ In combination with the winds, she was floored instantly.

Pantheon lowered his blade. "You thought you could take me?"

Beauty Butterfly was suddenly replaced with a normal woman, with fine jewelry. "U-ugh. It can't... be!"

Arthur walked over. "Why were you attacking Ethan?"

"We have an incentive. Now, I'm gone!" The woman slapped some kind of device on her wrist, and disappeared. A trinket of some kind fell to the floor. Arthur turned to see Ethan running over.

"You okay?"

"I've got a forcefield. What about you?" Said Ethan.

"Just a bump." Arthur looked back. Pantheon had picked up the small item that had been dropped. "Nob- uh, Pantheon, what is that?"

"It's some kind of escape charm. But I don't really understand how it works." Pantheon's armour disappeared, leaving Nobody holding the trinket.

"Can I have a look? Maybe I can figure something out from it?" Said Ethan. "Oh yeah, Arthur, who's this?"

"He calls himself 'Nobody'. I think he's from Valerie's time."

Nobody looked at Arthur. "Valerie?"

"Pink hair, with a weird wireframe headband thing? Red eyes?" Said Arthur. "She's the one who came from the future."

"...I see. So they did not interrupt for her." Said Nobody.

"Yeah, question?" Said Ethan. "Are you the guy that was fighting her before? Because I got a video out of nowhere and I'm pretty sure it shows you two fighting. Alias?"

"Here it is." Alias started playing the video, and Ethan held it up.

Nobody nodded once. "Yes. That is me."

"So, like, are you two friends?" Said Arthur.

"No. Come. If we continue to roam then we may be able to find more of your friends. It seems they're being hunted by those I wish vengeance upon."

"...Edgy much?" Muttered Ethan. "Anyway! I'll stick with you guys."

* * *

They set off at a walk. Treble called out. "Flare! Are you okay?!"

"I'm alright! I'm so glad you weren't hurt."

Arthur went through his various pockets and bags. "We're out of food. We should return to that place where it's floating around."

"...There's somewhere you can get food around here?" Said Ethan. "Phew. I thought I was going to starve, it's been... how long?"

"We've been in this place for almost ten hours." Said Gregar. "...And I don't like it. I hate being helpless. Hate it."

"Maybe sleeping would be sensible too." Said Arthur. "Oh, and how are the batteries holding up on everything?"

"My suit's about half full after that." Ethan looked at a little gauge on the sleeve. "...The PETs are about eighty percent?"

"Alright, that means forty more hours then." Said Arthur. They all kept walking.

"So, I think the most important question I can ask now would be how we can actually find the others?" Said Ethan. "Just randomly walking about isn't going to be particularly fast, and I bet they don't have anything like my suit. Who is it, anyway?"

"Lan, Blaze and Valerie." Said Arthur. "...Yes, we can't afford them finding Lan first. Blaze and Valerie... they seemed to know what they were doing, Blaze pretty much seemed to KNOW what this was, and Valerie can use wave changing like Nobody here, so they should be fine."

"Blaze..?" Said Nobody. "...Does she have red eyes?"

"Um, yeah? Why's that important?" Said Ethan.

Nobody smiled. "It's nothing that you need to concern yourself with. But I do wonder... I hope I can see her myself."

Ethan shrugged. "So... where are from, anyway? You talk in a kind of old way for someone from the future."

"That's irrelevant. Perhaps you could tell me some things, however?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"One thing first." Said Arthur. "...We mustn't try and change the future. If we create some kind of time paradox- well, we can't predict the effects."

"I can." Said Ethan. "Basically it creates an infinite loop, until something breaks. That's my zero-experience hypothesis. And we're not testing it. So... Oh, is that why you're not telling me anything?"

"...It will suffice as a reason. I was simply wondering if you know anybody that might hold any interest to these time-travelling curs."

"Well, I was literally in the middle of unveiling a pair of systems that would change the world." Said Ethan.

Denny's words rang in Arthur's head. Lan. Lan did something so important that even 200 years later, everyone knew him. "Ohhhh. Lan. It's Lan." Said Arthur. "This whole thing... I don't know what he does, but apparently it's important. His full name is Lan Hikari, Nobody."

Nobody nodded. "Yes. It would be prudent not to allow him to come to any harm. And what of your historic significance, Arthur? What do you do to shape the future?"

Arthur scratched the back of his head. "Oh, um, gee, heck... I don't..."

"He's plenty important." Said Ethan. "And besides, given the amount of power he has through Treble... Oh, plus there's the fact that literally everyone affects the future every second. You know, make a tiny change fifty years ago, big effect in the present? What's it called, the, um... Oh my god. Of course."

"Huh?" Said Gregar.

"The butterfly effect. That's why that crazy lady dressed as a butterfly." Said Ethan.

"Wow. That's an entire new level of dramatic." Said Treble. "Well, let's hope the future is still intact!"

"At this point we can only press on." Said Nobody. "Come."

* * *

They returned to crazy space. Arthur sat down and sighed in relief, he'd been on his feet for a long, long time that day. Ethan hit the floor and looked like he was about to pass out. Nobody was apparently tougher than either of them, but still not immune to fatigue.

"So then, Nobody, do you know Valerie?" Said Ethan. Arthur tried to snag a can of beans from the streams of random garbage, but missed shortly. Nobody tensed for a second, and grabbed it out of the air.

"...Do you?" He countered.

"That's a cop-out." Called Gregar. "We've known her for like two days."

"Yeah, I'm with them on this one. Seriously, we're almost certainly depending on you to stay alive for the moment, but we hardly know anything about you." Said Arthur.

"...Aegis. Have you sensed any traces of Chroma?" Said Nobody, before he turned his attention to Ethan. "It's in both our interests if we don't discuss anything about ourselves. Keep your questions to the situation we are faced with."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. That was a slight change in attitude to earlier, but then again, he had only just woken up earlier. "...So, Aegis... what's his deal? Sounded like you were speaking a different language."

Nobody sighed. "You don't seem to learn."

"...Whoops. Well then, who here should take first watch?"

"It should probably be Nobody." Said Treble. "He was knocked out, right?"

Nobody nodded. "I'm not tired. Who should come second?"

Arthur raised a hand. "I got a good night's sleep yesterday. I'll be okay on less."

"Well. Don't waste the time you have to rest." Instructed Nobody.

* * *

Treble opened a chat link with Flare.

"So, what happened to you guys when you got sucked in?"

"Well... it was pretty crazy. We ended up having to run from those shapeshifters until we got cornered. Then you showed up with perfect timing."

"Yeah, it was, right? Just the right moment."

"I wonder if that's some kind of link to this place? I mean, we're probably lost in time right now."

"Hey, you think that means it'll happen with the next big thing? We'll turn up at exactly the right time?"

"A bit too early to tell."

"Yeah... Hey, do you have the music box?"

"Alias has it at the moment. I could just sing whatever you're thinking of."

"Hehe, sometimes I forget just how good you are at that."

"Shame I can't weaponise it like Decibel. I found this one song with a great chorus for catching people off guard. They'd- ha- 'Never see it coming'."

"Sing it!"

"Here goes~"

* * *

Night watch was surprisingly easy. Arthur had feared the boredom would get to him, and didn't want to drain the battery too fast on his PET, until Treble assured him the main drain on the battery was the screen and he could just turn that off.

Getting Ethan up in the morning was easy enough. Nobody was almost eerie, rising exactly six hours after he'd laid down. "So then, where should we go from here?" Said Arthur. "We could head in the direction we found Ethan, or in a different direction. I've had a while to think about about this, and I think we want to try and find some kind of landmark to home in on. That would give us a much better chance of running into anyone else who could make it there."

"...I can't argue." Nodded Ethan.

Nobody was looking down, as if calculating something. "...Aegis believes there is a slightly increased concentration of EM waves if we take that path, at the crossroads."

Arthur looked over. "I can't see anything special about it, but I guess the defining part of EM waves is that normal people can't see them. Lead on."

Ethan brushed himself off. "Ready."

They set off at a relatively slow walk as Ethan shook off his sleep, picking up speed. After maybe half an hour, Treble spoke. "Did I tell you about the theory Flare had? She thinks that since we're lost in time, we'll always arrive to places at just the right time."

Arthur considered it. "Well, that would be nice, but it seems like it might lead to a bit of a carefree attitude."

Nobody entered the conversation next, amazingly. "That's the kind of survival ethic you need, there. Take nothing for granted in this place."

"Yeah. It's nice if true, but we can't afford to believe it. I'm not letting Lan get hurt." Added Ethan.

They kept walking.

And walking.

Eventually, Ethan had to ask for a stop. He wasn't particularly unfit, and Arthur was getting sore too. They'd been travelling for hours.

"Ugh... so... are we at least getting closer?" Said Ethan.

"Yeah, seconded. These batteries aren't going to last forever." Said Alias.

'Sssth...'

Ethan suddenly sat upright. "Snake? Anyone just hear a snake?"

"I think that was Aegis." Said Arthur. "It's the same sound I kept hearing when he guided me to Nobody."

'Sssth...'

Nobody looked at a blank patch of air where Aegis was presumably floating. "...I see. I recommend you two prepare yourselves. By Aegis' calculations, we're an hour's travel away from whatever is emitting these waves."

"You can understand that?" Said Arthur.

"Yes. It's simply an encrypted form of speech to my wavelength." Said Nobody. "Very basic."

"Okay. Let's wait until Ethan's got his strength back, and keep going." Said Gregar.

"Nah, we can press on." Ethan got to his feet. "I'll be fine as long as I don't get caught in a fight with the suit out of battery."

"Then let's go."

They kept walking.

And walking.

Arthur looked back and noticed Ethan looked like death on broken legs, but when he tried to offer some help Ethan waved him off. Gregar's stubbornness had apparently rubbed off on him. But also his force of will to push his body to the limit. Not necessarily a good thing, human wounds couldn't be repaired so easily, but at least it made travelling faster. He'd probably get fit pretty quickly too.

Finally, they came to a rift. Nobody looked at it. "...It's beyond here. There's something Aegis doesn't recognise at all, along with a high concentration of EM waves."

Arthur took the clips on his security jacket. It wasn't just for show, but was hardly a good shield compared to a forcefield. "...I'm ready. But, well, you'll understand if I only go into the fight as a last resort?"

"I assure you, no man or program can defeat me." Said Nobody.

"I'll... I dunno." Said Ethan. "The forcefield contains my punches too. I didn't have the time to fine-tune what it lets in and out, it's just got to be below a certain size. But yeah. Let's do this.

"Ethan'll go first, he can take a hit and that means if there's a trap we don't lose our only fighter." Said Gregar.

"H-hey?" Ethan looked at Gregar's PET.

"I'm serious. Look, you're not dying with a defence like that. So might as well put it to good use." Said Gregar.

"Alright... Here goes, then." Ethan stepped back, and jumped into the rift.

Nobody waited for a few seconds, and then followed. Then Arthur jumped through.

* * *

He touched down in a metal corridor of some kind to see a battle in progress.

"Valor?" Said Ethan, as the wave changer ducked under a blast of some kind, then blasted a wave of fire down the field in return. He was about to run forwards when Flare called.

"Don't, we can't offer any help right now! Let Nobody do this!"

Ethan's face screwed up, but he stopped, and looked to Nobody expectantly. And missed a flash of red that jumped over Valor, grinded along the wall for a good three metres, and then jumped off, slashing with a blade on her arm.

"Ember?! What's going on?" Arthur cautiously stepped forwards, and saw more of the corridor. Blaze was at the back of the fight, bucket on her head and PET in hand. And their enemy was unmistakably a navi. Arthur was about to speak again when he had to throw himself backwards to dodge an energy blast from the navi. Considering what it did to the wall, it was probably a good think he'd dodged.

Nobody surged with crimson light. "Fluctus mutare. Pantheon, in aerem."

Valor's first response was to turn her head to the side and curse. Pantheon walked out onto the battlefield, and casually deflected a blast thrown at him, like it was the least interesting thing in the world. "Blaze, we have to retrea-" She shifted, and put up a barrier of some kind, preventing another blast from hitting her.

"..." Pantheon hummed. "That would be unwise."

Valor growled. "I'll take you and that cheap navi on at the same time if you make me!"

Pantheon turned. "Are you the one responsible for interrupting my duel?"

Arthur peeked out, and got a look at the Navi. Their design was rather bizarre, to say the least. Gauntlets and boots made of polished wood, by the looks of things, with dark rings around that had white studs... suspiciously shaped like teeth. A lanky, nearly skeletal build, a chestplate that really only covered the neck, and of course, the face-mask. The face-mask was what really gave the design away. Wood with sunken eyes, a carved snarl, and a plumage of some kind, in a dirty purple. Voodoo. "Prrahaha." Complete with creepy laugh.

Pantheon was not amused. "I don't appreciate ambiguity."

"Rise, and serve me..." Taunted the voodoo navi. THe ground cracked in front of them, and Blaze glared in frustration.

"Don't you ever _stop_ throwing minions at us?!"

"Prrahaha." A navi jumped out of the crack, mostly ghostly but with a few solid patches. Three more followed. "You can't win, so long as i'm within the dimensional area. I can summon minions faster than even you can hope to overcome!"

For a second, Arthur felt a flick of anger at how cocky this navi was being, and then Pantheon just walked forwards. His sword jabbed forwards faster than Arthur could follow, and a single blow was enough to delete the ZombieNavi. The other three tried to attack, and Ember skewered one on ProtoCross' blades, while Pantheon simply shifted his stance a little. It was as if his guard was wide-open... And then a zombie hand went for his exposed chest, and Arthur saw as Pantheon's counterattack obliterated them, using both his sword and shield in tandem to deliver a flurry of strikes, before he turned to the last one and bashed it with the shield so hard Arthur felt his hair sweep back.

The voodoo navi suddenly didn't seem too confident. "Prr... ha... haha... hahaaa!" They turned and started running, only for Valor to tackle them.

"You're going nowhere."

Blaze looked to Ethan and Arthur. "Get your navis out here in case he tries anything!"

"Uh... what?"

Pantheon walked up to the floored navi and lifted him up by the neck, using only one hand. "Answer me." They vanished, and another charm dropped to the floor.

Blaze sighed. "Whew, thought we were in trouble for a moment there! Nice timing, guys! Who's this?" She seemed somewhat oblivious to the brutal nature of Pantheon's fighting. Or perhaps just friendly, and impressed.

Pantheon looked back. "...That is irrelevant."

"This is Pantheon, a wave changer like Valerie." Said Arthur. "He calls himself Nobody, though."

Valor looked uncertain. Or even scared. "I know. Pantheon... why are you here? Was this what you meant by 'The fate I deserve'?"

Pantheon looked ahead. "No. The fate you deserve has yet to be decided. This was the work of an outside force- one with intentions that span wider than our quarrel."

"Anyway, Ember, how are you outside the PET? Are you... an EM being?" Said Arthur.

Ember rolled up her mask. "Nope. Just an everyday navi, with great customising. Ever since we got here, though... well, Treble, can't you sense it?"

"Sense what? Hold on, I'll look." Called Treble. "...Oh! What's this? Why do I have an option to jack-in?"

"Try it." Said Blaze, lifting the bucket off her head. "You too, Gregar, Flare, Alias."

Arthur suddenly had to do a double take as the PET pinged off him, the clip on the back being forced away like there was something repelling the PET from him. Then in a second, there was a glowing light and a brief stream of data before... Arthur put his hands over his mouth. "...Treble?"

"Oh." Treble was standing in the physical world, clearly surprised. "Well, hi! Don't worry, holding in bugs!"

Ethan was suddenly sandwiched between two cybeasts and Alias. "Sweeeet! Welcome to the real world, guys."

"I..." Arthur "I'm glad to have you by my side. Now I know we can get through this."

"Heh, never thought I'd see you eye-to-eye." Said Gregar.

"This is quite a shock..." Said Flare. She looked at Blaze, who was smiling. "Perhaps... we should stay here for a while and work everything out?"

Blaze shook her head. "No. Lan is still out there. Not in danger, trust me- but he's going nowhere if we don't go help him."

Pantheon walked over to Blaze. Valor stood in front of him. "What are your plans?"

"...I wish to see the truth. She will come to no harm." Pantheon glowed and was replaced by Nobody. "Stand aside."

"I could kill you here and now." Said Valor.

"Whoa, whoa, what. Don't kill each other!" Alias ran over, apparently used to this sort of thing.

Nobody looked ahead. "I doubt that would end well for you. If you can slow me down, I can't take on all these fighters. But if you turn them on you by attacking?"

Valor sighed, and was replaced by Valerie. "Stop being right, you jerk. Guys... this is Pantheon. He showed up and challenged me to a fight to the death before I came here. Plus he's made my life hard in a few other ways."

"Uh... you sure? He seemed okay to me."

"No. I have done all that, without hesitation." Said Nobody. "Now step aside. I must see."

Blaze shuffled Valerie out of the way. "What's the big deal, anyway? Seriously, I can protect myself. And Ember's here. So, what is it?"

Nobody looked at Blaze's face carefully. "..." He nodded his head. "You are one of them."

Blaze swallowed. Ember grimaced. "Oh. No."

"I cannot kill you." Said Nobody. "...Nor will I. The faults of your family... none are yours."

Blaze stared back. "You know, we have family stories of an EM being with a snake's head. Of the one responsible for so much of our grief. You REALLY want me to trust you?"

"Blaze, what's this about?" Said Arthur.

"It doesn't- It's none of your business." Blaze seemed rattled by something.

"My foot." Said Ethan. "We all just got together, and now Nobody and you are trying kill each other? While we're in an entire dimension that's out to kill us?"

"We're not going to attack." Said Nobody. "If she were to die, then that would irreversibly break the timeline. Especially... mine."

"Yeah, but what about Valerie? She's not getting hurt on my watch!" Said Blaze.

"..." Nobody turned.

"Look, let's just calm down." Said Flare. "If Nobody was going to betray us then he'd have done it already. He won't even have the chance now, if you're that sure he can't be trusted, because I don't think navis will need sleep."

Blaze sighed. "...Fine. I'll work with you for now. But I wouldn't be very good to my family if I trusted you."

"It's all I ask for." Said Nobody. "I'll wait in the side corridor until you're all ready to depart."

"...So, what was that about?"

Blaze frowned. "Alright, I can't keep it secret any longer. I'll explain. Gather round."

Everyone formed a wide semicircle around Blaze.

"My family... we have a special power. We can see EM waves with just our eyes. It's always passed on to girls in our line, although rumor says there used to be other lines until- never mind. This power can be traced back a very long time, to a civilisation where EM beings were actually more common, even without modern technology."

 _Mu._ Thought Arthur. _That must be Mu._

"Anyway, these lines with this ability... we inherit a... job, I guess? I'm a guardian of the knowledge this civilisation had. All the stories, technology, and culture is passed from mother to daughter. And... yes, it's good technology. But I'm sworn not to reveal it, because of how dangerous it could be if misused. Like... well, imagine you gave a caveman a grenade. That kind of dangerous- humanity could well tear itself apart. We only keep it around in case there's a huge threat to the world and we need some of that old knowledge to stop it." Said Blaze.

"So that's..." Valerie whispered. "But then... why..."

"We're pretty serious about keeping it all secret. As long as nobody knows any of it exists, then none of it can get pressured or tricked out of us, like the dangerous stuff. So anyway, some people think that stuff is better forgotten, like a snake-headed EM being we tell stories about. If the legends are true, then he's responisble for so many of us dying throughout history..."

Arthur nodded. "These legends... can they help us get out of here? And... well... you're sure, right? These are pretty heavy accusations, especially considering that we wouldn't be alive without his help right now."

"Yes. I can navigate this place. Ethan, now that you're here... if we REALLY need to, then I could tell you how... no." Blaze looked away. "We haven't needed those secrets in three thousand years- we don't need them now. And I'm absolutely sure- Aegis matches the legends perfectly. Or why don't I ask him? Aegis. Is it true?"

"The knowlege must be forgotten. In one moment of weakness, you could destroy the world." Echoed a voice, husky and stilted, as though english wasn't it's first language. "...But I cannot act against you. The time to do that passed by me two hundred years ago... now, killing you would go against the very reason I would seek to wipe out your knowledge- a paradox could end the world."

"Well... as long as you aren't lying, then..." Blaze looked at the not-so-empty air. "I suppose I have to trust you anyway. The power to bend time? We're going to need everything we can get. Even if we're mortal enemies. But... don't speak to me unless there's a good reason. I have more faith in our line than you. Those people... how many died on a 'What if'?"

"Too many... but necessarily. We won't speak again, guardian."

Blaze almost growled, but Ember placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're not in danger. I barely know a thing about him, but I don't like those reasons one bit either."

"Urgh, that was one way to put a damper on all this good stuff." Said Treble.

"I'm... sorry about the others." Said Arthur.

"Sorry for what? You never even knew they existed." Said Blaze. "Let's just... forget this. Right now we need to find Lan."

"Oh yeah, Lan. Do you think he's going to be in any danger right now?" Ethan mused. "I mean, attacking us now that we have this much fighting power would be suicide, right? So... will they focus on him?"

"MegaMan will keep him safe." Said Blaze. "Trust me. And even so... we can navigate the timestreams. We'll arrive when we need to."

"Is anyone hurt?" Asked Arthur. "I know medical stuff."

"I'm fine. I've got the bucket. Val?"

"All good. Don't suppose you can give Chroma a pick-me-up? That last fight was tough..." Said Valerie.

"Doubt it. Ethan?"

"Not a scratch..." Ethan seemed kind of depressed at the revelation about Aegis. "...We should rest anyway. My feet are tired, and by the sounds of things, we have time."

"We do. Who's going to keep watch of Nobody?" Said Blaze. "...Don't worry, you guys. I promise I'll get us all home safely. It's my duty as guardian."

 **Author's notes: And a dark revelation... Hopefully not too dark for you. Plus Serious!Blaze, which isn't something you see often at all. On a somewhat lighter note, yes, this time-rift is a dimensional area like the anime ones, but doesn't make a forcefield nobody can enter through due to being a series of interconnected areas.**

 **Reviewer answers! And a lot of them!**

 **WanderingAnon: You are correct, here, take a cyber hug! I hope my chapter meets expectations.**

 **TyrantChimera: (1) Early Gospel was fun to write, but tough to imagine without getting repetitve. All those little problems were surprisingly tough to think of! And then he met Forte/Bass like 4 chapters after the review, hehe.**

 **(2) You can find it on JaneValentine007's Wattpad or DeviantArt profiles, which are east enough to find through google. Full credit to her for the art, it's way better than anything I'm capable of.**

 **(3) Omega is a very unusual case of being absolutely, unquestionably awesome and badass despite canonically losing to you both times you fight. And yeah, that's a pre-battle quote he earned alright!**

 **(4) Zero has no operator, although I suspect you know that by now.**

 **(5) I can definitely understand not liking OCs, they have a truly horrendous track record for immediately becoming more powerful than main characters and having fairly cliche personalities- just I personally find it hard to make long works about established characters, because I feel like people already know them. Spelling itself isn't my weakness, but spellchecking? That's the bane of my existence. OH GOD THE PLOT BUNNIES! THEY'RE MULTIPLYING! ...Yeah, I did leave more than a few loose ends. Often I was able to wrap them up with dialogue referring to them, but others like the SecretArea... shh. Just let ppl forget while I try and figure something out. I don't have many notes at all, I'm just incredibly invested in this to the point of knowing pretty much all there is to know. Not becoming more powerful than MegaMan is the one thing I've always been absolutely adamant about in my work- Gregar brought him down after a fight where he had a lot of hidden tricks and everything went perfectly, and his absolutely ultimate form was almost able to match HubBatch, but still lost- because MegaMan always has been the most important character, and the most powerful but not infallible and that shouldn't change or _it just wouldn't be battle network._ References are delicate things. Honestly the one thing I was a bit iffy about was breaking the standard naming convention for Amaterasu, but it looks like you didn't mind that, more the fact it just wasn't so original- I'll keep that in mind. I look forwards to the rest of your reviews, I see them and I adore getting feedback!**


	54. Chapter 54: Pyrrhic

They all sat around the battle-scarred corridor in varying states. A profound uneasiness had taken over everyone, as they turned Blaze's revelations over.

Arthur's mind ticked away like a clock. Could Nobody be trusted? Blaze wouldn't lie to them, especially in a situation like this. They had the fighting strength to survive without him. But... He hadn't ever lied either, and even when Arthur was basically dead weight he travelled with him and saved Ethan. Even with Aegis' track record, Aegis had been open with his reasons and while Arthur hated it... if the knowledge really was as dangerous as Blaze claimed, it was all humanity versus just a handful of people, by the looks of things. Not a choice that anyone could make in good conscience, but it had a clear answer. But it had stayed secret for at least 3000 years. Perfectly, seriously secret. Even people like Denny could get nothing but a name- and no clue of the knowledge behind it.

 _Perhaps I'm judging things I shouldn't... Should never._ Concluded Arthur. _All I have to worry about is Nobody, and as long as he's watched, then trust doesn't matter. But still... I want to trust him. He's been nothing but helpful._

"You okay there?" Said Treble. "Sore legs? Ethan's actually in pain."

"Oh, I hope he doesn't have any blisters." Said Arthur. "No, I was just... well, it feels like trusting Nobody is betraying Blaze, almost. But I want to trust him, after what he's done for us."

"I understand... But I think we can at least count on him until we're out of this mess. What happens after, I don't know."

"We can't stop him. He'll be back in his time period. I... I want to try and do something, like we did for the cybeasts, but this time... I don't think it's possible. People died by the sounds of things. How can you ever reconcile that? How do you even ask someone to put that aside?" Arthur sighed and put his head in his hands.

"Do you need a hug?"

"...Yes." Croaked Arthur.

Treble sat and gave an affectionate, experienced hug. "Not every problem in the world has to be fixed by you."

Arthur smiled.

* * *

The group ended up sleeping there. Gregar worried Valerie and Blaze wouldn't be be able to sleep near their mortal enemy, but battle and heavy walking were a very effective way to ensure someone grabbed every second of sleep they could, even on hard metal floors.

Ethan was sleeping in some kind of digital pile-up, using Gregar's leg as a pillow, Alias on his right, Flare on his left with her wing covering him, Treble next to Flare, and Arthur unconscious somewhere on the edge. Blaze and Valerie were lying next to each other. Ember was watching Nobody.

"You'll run down your batteries." Warned Nobody.

"It's fine. Not moving lets me recharge them a bit off these EM waves. Probably better if I went into standby like those guys, but... well. It's my job to protect my netop from any and all potential threats."

"A good attitude. Tell me a little more about navis. I'm thirty-two, but I've never seen an elaborate one like you. Are you pre-programmed with that loyalty?"

"Y-you're thirty-two? What's your secret?" Said Ember.

"Exercise. Are you going to answer? This isn't so urgent, but I wish to be taken seriously."

"Well... personally, no, because my AI was made to closely resemble a real person, but you can get more obedient navis, I guess..."

"Interesting. I only have one other question. That was the first you'd heard about those secrets, yes?"

"...Yes. Let's stop there. I... I don't want to talk about this- Aegis' actions are unforgivable, and even if you're not Aegis? I don't want to associate with any of his business unless it's to save a life." Ember kept her voice down, wary of the sleeping party.

The air echoed. "...Good."

Nobody sat down. "I'd best sleep too. I'm not invincible."

* * *

Arthur got up with about half his body feeling as stiff as drywall, and feet that were somewhat sore. Still, better than just going on until fainting. "Guys? You up?"

"Mmmphth." Groaned Ethan. He seemed to become vaguely aware of the fact he was covered in programs. "...How did I... get here?"

Gregar's eyes snapped open. "Okay. Give me back my leg now you're up." He gave the limb a short shake, and Ethan sat up, rolling Flare over.

"Oop." Flare managed to fall upwards, onto her feet, standing perfectly straight. "Hm. Sleeping is... weird."

"Yeah." Treble rolled over and got up. "Just... knock yourself out and get energy. Makes sense."

Arthur forced himself to sit up, still shaking off the stiffness. Blaze was already sitting, awake, while Valerie rubbed her eyes. "Everyone still here and alive?"

Alias looked around. "...eleven, plus me, twelve. All good."

Nobody was already on his feet. "Guardian. We're relying on you to guide us."

Blaze gave him a stare. "Steady on, they're all still waking up." She couldn't hide a bitter edge in her voice. Arthur was somewhat worried. This... just wasn't the Blaze he was used to.

"Okay. Should..." Arthur yawned. "...we make a plan, then?"

"Yeah." Ethan climbed to his feet. "...Augh, give me a second."

They grumbled for a moments together, before getting on track. "Alright, so I think priority number one should be finding Lan. He's amazingly strong, but he can't last forever." Said Arthur.

"Agreed. Plus he might have found out something about these time-travellers." Said Blaze.

"Speaking of the time-travellers, Nobody, do you still have those escape charms they used? I want to try taking one apart." Said Ethan. "Maybe it can give me some hint as to where they escaped to."

Nobody looked to the side.

'Sssth...'

"...Very well. Take this one." Nobody passed Ethan a small charm. "But we'll do that later."

"Hey, just a thought." Added Arthur. "Treble, can you use cybeast powers now you're in the physical world? Or cause bugs? I mean... a block of metal doesn't have any code to alter." He gestured to the steel walls.

"I'll try it. I have more capacity to cast." Said Flare. "And I don't have to worry about effecting you guys with my handiwork."

"Yeah, we'd better not use ours near you unless we have to." Said Gregar. "Wouldn't want to bug you."

Flare held out a hand, and it blazed with orange light. The damaged part of the wall rippled, and with a blaze of orange flame the broken chunks flew up from the floor and sealed themselves in place, leaving only glowing orange cracks. Flare walked over and tapped it with her hand. "Seems they work like normal."

"Nice." Ethan seemed impressed. "This is a big advantage."

"Okay... I'm going to try and find my way to Lan." Announced Blaze. "Valerie, you're on lookout duty."

"Yeah, fine." Said Valerie. "Chroma... keep an eye on Aegis."

Nobody just rolled his eyes.

* * *

As they walked, Arthur got curious. "So... how can you navigate this place?"

"It's mainly thanks to my eyes." Said Blaze. "If I look into the rifts, then I can get some idea of where they lead, and who's inside them. Kind of... um... like a reflection on water?"

"Oh. But there are lots of rifts in each place, and you seem to know which way to go..."

"They all have far-reaching waves. I can see faint traces of whatever's in the rift on the concentrated lines. The only problem's when we just get out of a rift. Then I can see that one."

"Hmm... interesting. I'm no scientist, but... well, I'm really just interested. It's like your power was custom-tailored for this situation." Said Arthur.

Valerie looked back. "I think it's more like this place was custom-made for our ability. It's clearly been made of EM waves."

Arthur kept wondering. "Hey, Blaze... this EM tech... is it... well, you know the secrets you're guarding, is this place... does it use them? Are we up against... another guardian?"

"No need to dance around it. I don't have every secret, but I don't think so. We'd stick on the same side." Said Blaze.

"Hey, guys." Said Treble. "...I smell something. But I don't recognise it."

Valerie looked around carefully. "Really? I can't see anything. Chroma, what about you?"

'Seems clear. But I feel something too.'

'Sssth...'

"You too, Aegis?" Said Nobody. "Something is afoot."

Arthur looked around, not expecting to see anything. "Treble, what exactly can you smell?"

"I don't know, I've only been in the physical world for half a day! But it's kind of... I think it's a navi. Or it could be a wizard maybe?"

"It's not a wizard. We'd see them." Said Blaze. "...Does anyone have a way to reveal them if they're hiding?"

"Yeah, just duck?" Said Treble.

"NO NO DON'T!" Arthur turned, realising Treble was about to use his tail buster. "I know it locks on but let's not accidentally shoot anyone on our side."

"...Right." Said Treble. "Oh, you think they might be on our side?"

"Let's just press on. Maybe it's not even related to us?" Said Blaze.

"I doubt that's wise, it may allow them to report our location." Said Nobody.

"I didn't ask for your input."

They walked on.

* * *

"How... much further?" Said Ethan. "My legs are killing me..."

"No idea. I can navigate, but not much more." Said Blaze.

"I don't like this. We hardly know anything about who or what we're up against." Said Arthur. _And I don't know how long our group will hold together..._

"I'm gonna take apart that charm while we have a break." Ethan sat down, and took a small screwdriver out of his pocket. He levered the back off while Arthur watched. "Hmm... I don't recognise this tech at all."

'Sssth...'

Nobody walked over and knelt. He narrowed his eyes. "Are you... absolutely sure this isn't Murian technology, Blaze?"

"Don't say that name. And- look, are you calling me a liar? I have no idea how to go about making anything like this!"

"I'm saying that Aegis recognises it!"

"And he has no motivation to make me look bad?!"

"Blaze, stop, we can't argue-" Started Arthur.

"No! I didn't want to work with him in the first place, but now he's just taking it too far!"

"Everyone, you have to calm down!"

"No, Blaze! Answer me truthfully!"

Everything descended into chaos. Arthur could hardly follow the words, just trying to convince Blaze to calm down and making everything worse, Ethan trying to keep them off the exposed charm, and the navis trying to stop anyone from actually attacking anyone else.

And then Arthur felt a chill go through his heart. Time seemed to slow.

As clearly and loudly as he could, he shouted "TREBLE, SHIELD US!"

Too late for himself, but not too late for hope.

They were surrounded, and the argument had covered the ambush better than anything the assailants could possibly have hoped for. Arthur moved in front of Blaze and threw his arms out, and a ring of some sort crashed into him, and he blacked out.

* * *

Treble heard Arthur shout. He was suddenly aware of a dozen navis dropping out of Invis around the group, and every one fired a ring attack of some kind. He was transforming the moment Arthur shouted, and the attacks meant for the left side of the group bounced off his skin harmlessly. Arthur was on the right side. Treble saw the ring hit him and blossom into a harsh golden net, Arthur falling to the floor. Dead or unconscious? Treble didn't know. He didn't even have time to think.

The argument ended instantaneously. The surprise attack of those nets had hit Arthur, Valerie, and Ember. That already put them at a huge disadvantage. Treble shifted to block any secondary attacks from hitting Arthur, as Gregar leapt out and deleted one navi where they stood. It was a chaotic battle, the kind Treble normally would have reveled in, but he couldn't even focus on it. He was just trying to keep Arthur from getting hit again. A cannon fired and was blocked. A navi ran in brandishing a sword and was eaten. Treble knew he couldn't get too close to Arthur or he'd kill him himself.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Blaze trying to get the net off Ember, a barrier of sorts around Valerie, and he was aware of Ethan directing the cybeasts. The whole fight was revolving around his command.

"Gregar, get the gunner nest down with your breath! Flare, Make a whirlpool and defend Blaze! Alias, YOUR LEFT!" Alias avoided taking a strike to the face by a single hair's width. He was duelling the leader, a heavy-armoured navi in yellow, with a black mask for a face. Alias was struggling, not that used to using G-carving's claws to try and match the scimitar the enemy was wielding.

Treble took a deep breath and blew fire. The floor blistered at the heat, and Ethan shielded his eyes even if he wasn't hurt, and the attackers finally got the message that he wasn't going to be a target once they were blown down to nothing. He didn't know if he was about to have an emotional breakdown from worry or snap and kill them all.

The battle was slowly turning in their favour. Junk Flyer had taken out a few of the enemy without Treble doing anything. More were nothing more than black marks on the floor. Gregar and Flare had ripped several to shreds.

And an ominous wind blew.

The attack's leader staggered back, clutching uncountable scratches and cuts, while Alias dropped his G-Carving, and wheezed, clearly having exhausted his supply of energy. There was an eerie moment of silence.

"N-no! No!" Said the leader, apparently to noone. "I... this is my kill, you can't, you- NO! I'm... I'm Byte! The nightmare police! I... Uaaa! I'll... kill..!" There was a ripping sound, and a rift appeared where he was standing, sucking him in.

Ethan breathed, a hand over his heart. "Is... is it over?"

"No." A voice boomed out. A _familiar_ voice. Treble had no heart in the biological sense, but it sank anyway.

Gregar glared at the rift. "That better not be-"

Bass rose out of the portal. "It's been a while."

Ethan gritted his teeth. "Why are you here?"

"You left me to rot. For two hundred years." Said Bass. "I've gone two hundred years, until they set me free!"

"BASS! STOP! NOT NOW!"

"Shut up, Treble! You left me too! All of you! You'll know how I despaired!" Bass held a hand forward, and it pulsed with energy identical to the rift behind him. "I'll throw you into a doomed timeline!"

Gregar jumped forwards. Bass attacked. He threw the blast of rift energy directly at Gregar, and as it left his hands it tripled in size, nullifying Gregar's expert dodge. The rift moved forwards far too fast for Ethan to do anything. It hit him dead-centre, and took Alias and Flare with him. And the rift closed.

Treble hit breaking point. "BASS! AAAGH! I'LL KILL YOU!" He dived forwards. Bass turned, and tried to dodge. Treble caught him with his shoulder, slamming him against the floor. Bass threw him off and brought up his LIfeAura only for it to pop like a bubble as Treble's jaws closed around it. He was just able to pull himself free, and started to cast Buster Rake when Treble slashed him as hard as he could, the rage behind the giant claws tearing away the floor below Bass like hot butter. Bass' armour held through that blow, but Treble was throwing everything he had at Bass. Fury, desperation, anger, hatred, and simple feral rage. Treble didn't know what he was doing anymore. His power was responding in kind, purple energy wrapping around him and arcing off like he was a giant tesla coil, reality warping and glitching by his very presence.

Their duel was explosive. Treble was shrugging off attacks that outright qualified as hellfire, Bass was dodging like a mirage. Treble swiped, jumping forwards in a blast of power, and Bass deflected, his own might struggling against the huge force. He danced around the storming Junk Flyer, and was caught in a powerful bite only to throw out an EarthBreaker and escape in a blast, launching enough Hell'sRolling wheels to blot out the sun, and Treble would charge forwards, crushing them beneath him and doing everything in his power to defeat Bass, purple energy jumping from his body and cracking against Bass' as his Get Ability program struggled to ward off the power telling him to simply fold in on himself and die.

The laws of physics themselves were showing cracks. He wasn't just attacking fast. Junk flyer came from every angle as fast as the eye could follow. He was outright warping, resetting the position of his claws and mouth, and then Bass seemed to flash, before there was a blast. Something had obviously overloaded within him, because he suddenly bugged. This wasn't a fight. This was a beating. Bass flew back, in his copied Falzar form, and Treble was already behind him, tearing into his healthpool, and then it was abruptly over in one flash.

Treble was just lying on the ground in front of Bass, completely drained of any power. It was almost as if he'd turned to stone. Bass was on his knees.

"You..." Bass closed his eyes. His cloak fell to pieces. "...Put everything into that attack... But you could never defeat me... Not in... two hundred years..."

"STAY..."

Bass looked forwards.

"STAY BACK..."

"..."

Treble couldn't make his body move. This couldn't be the end. Not now. Not after coming so far. It couldn't end so suddenly.

"...Follow through on your words then. Kill me now. I've had my revenge. The Save means nothing to me."

Treble willed himself to move. But it wasn't happening. He really had put every last drop of his energy into bending reality for that attack. He felt like he was about to fall apart himself.

"...Perhaps in another timeline, we could have been friends. Companions. Anything..." Said Bass. "...There's nothing left for me to do now. One last act of spite, then..." Bass held out his hand and a charm appeared. "One use only." He placed it on the floor in front of Treble.

Treble felt his vision starting to fail. His thoughts were getting hazy. Before he blacked out, he saw Bass do something he'd never have expected. Turn and leave, data falling out of him, bugs rampant.

Mercy.

* * *

Arthur woke up to Blaze cutting a golden net off him with a pair of nail clippers. "What... happened?"

"We have trouble." Blaze's eyes were red around the edges. Sore. She'd been crying. "...I've... It's my..."

Arthur remembered the last few moments. His eyes snapped wide open. "The ambush! Is anyone hurt?!"

Blaze looked away. "...It's worse than that."

Arthur scrambled to his feet. "Who is it?! Is... is somebody... dead?!" And he turned. "Treble!"

Treble was lying there. He hadn't transformed back. His skin was still dull as stone.

"Treble!"

"He's alive." Said Ember. "...Drained of all power, but alive."

Arthur turned to her. "What... what happened?"

"Bass." Said Blaze. "He attacked us, just after we fought off the first attackers. He's... Ethan's not dead, but it might be better if he were."

"You'd better tell me what's happened to him."

"...He's been thrown into a doomed timeline. I can see it now, at the point where the rift to it closed." Blaze shut her eyes. "He's fighting for his life. An endless swarm of viruses. Gregar and Flare are about to collapse from exhaustion. Alias can't move."

"...What..." His voice was small, disbelieving.

"We can't do anything to help him now. We'd need the power to open a rift." Said Blaze. "I... I'm so sorry..."

"You couldn't have done anything."

"My argument let this happen." Said Blaze. "...And now look what's happened. I had to be a leader here, and I just threw a fit because I didn't think I could trust someone... Now Ethan's stuck in Beyondard, Nobody's left, and Treble... I... he nearly died by pushing his power that far. And you too..."

"..." Arthur walked over to Treble and placed a hand on his side. "..." He hung his head. "...Ethan's not dead yet, right?"

"...You shouldn't hold onto hope this way."

Ember walked over to Blaze. "Listen to yourself. That's not Blaze talking."

"..."

"Blaze, we've pushed through way more than this." Said Ember. "And we never gave up against any of it."

Blaze nodded.

"I won't give up either." Said Arthur. "I'd like to just convince you it'll be fine with words, but... nothing comes to mind. But I can't expect things to get better if I don't try and change it. And besides. We're dealing with forces beyond our understanding here. Know what that means? Those forces might be able to fix this mess. I'll press on no matter what. Will you lead me? I..." Arthur tried to think of something, anything to convince Blaze not to give up. "I swear, as seriously as I can, on my life, to do my best to get you through this, however you deem necessary."

"...How could I lead anyone after this?"

Ember sighed. "Look, Blaze, he literally just offered to serve you."

Blaze nodded her head. "..." And then seemed to start. Like when you've been tugging the cord of a chainsaw, trying to start it, and finally the engine begins to buzz. "Let's do this." The fire almost palpably returned to her eyes. "I'll show them what happens if they lay a finger on my friends- let alone put them through this."

Valerie walked over. "...So what now? That Bass guy... how can you be sure he's gone for good?"

"Because he... well, he could have killed all of us." Said Blaze. "Treble... I don't know... made him give up. He said something."

"What was it?"

"I got a name. The Save. And he left these, too..." Blaze took out two objects. A battlechip and a charm shaped like a pocketwatch. "...I think this is for you."

Arthur took the chip. Bass F. "...I don't think I'll use it. I... no, I refuse to."

"...That's fair. This charm seems to be one of the ones they used to escape. It'll take us to them when we need to go, but..." Blaze shook her head. "We can't yet. If I'm gonna lead you through this, then I need to get responsible. WE won't go in until we know exactly who or what we're up against, Lan is safe, and... and... until Ethan is free!" Said Blaze. "...Yes. I'll lead you. I swear, I'll do everything in my power to be worthy of your help."

Arthur nodded once. "Then I'm yours to command."

"...Thanks, everyone. We'll wait until Treble is okay first. Ember, how long until he wakes up?"

"Three hours. There's a lot of ambient charge."

* * *

Three hours passed. Arthur was sitting in front of Treble.

Blaze was watching. She couldn't tear herself away. "The time is passing differently down there. Or maybe for us, up here. Ethan's... still going. He's escaped the battlefield. His suit's out of power and he's got a cut on his arm, but I don't see any viruses following him. His navis are still with him. Gregar's carrying Alias."

"See? He'll... he'll live..." Arthur could feel the overwhelming fear and despair. Anything to fight it. He could hardly believe his own words.

Valerie eventually walked over to Arthur. "Arthur... What was Nobody like while you knew him?"

Arthur shrugged. He didn't want to focus on it now. Earlier the adrenaline and need to fix the situation had protected him, but now the emotional exhaust was hitting. He just didn't want to think. But he did anyway. "...Seemed like a pretty good guy. I... I want to know why he's abandoned us like this."

"I... I never saw him when he wasn't Pantheon. I only know him as someone that's made my life hard." Said Valerie.

"..." Arthur nodded. "Hey. I've been meaning to bring this up for a while now, but... you... you're like Blaze, right? Guardian of..."

"Nope." Said Valerie. "It... well, my mother never had the chance to tell me anything."

Treble stirred. Arthur shot up. "Treble! Oh, thank goodness!"

Treble coughed, and shrunk back to normal, and lay on the floor, barely awake. "...You're not hurt..."

"I'm fine. You saved me."

"Whew..." Treble closed his eyes, and lay on the floor where he was.

Ember smiled. "He'll be okay. He's just sleeping now."

Blaze seemed to consider her options. "Arthur, could... you carry him? I don't want to stay where we were attacked, they might come back." She asked somewhat sheepishly.

Arthur didn't complain a word. He dropped to one knee and picked up Treble from the floor, and hoisted him over his back with some difficulty. After a moment Treble was balanced there. "Ready to move out."

"You were serious earlier, huh?" Blaze smiled hopefully. "...Then let's go save Lan. Come on, guys!"

They walked off.

Time passed. Arthur's willpower might not have matched up to the likes of Ethan or Blaze, but he wasn't showing a single crack. Ethan's situation was worse than his, so he had no right to complain. He told himself that over and over. His feet were screaming but he was silent. Blaze had the strength to carry on after circumstances out of her control had gone as badly as they could, so he would have that strength too. "Blaze, do you have a plan for when we find Lan? MegaMan won't have gone down, but... well, they could be trapped by lots of enemies, and..."

"We can't make a plan without some knowledge of what to expect." Said Blaze. "...So I just want everyone to stay safe."

"Hey, you guys. Maybe we should take a rest?" Said Valerie. "...Arthur looks like he's about to collapse."

"I can keep going." He said easily.

Blaze looked back. "I'd be a pretty useless leader if I ran you into the ground. Let's take a break. Ember, you don't mind carrying Treble for a while?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

Arthur carefully sat down. He felt tired. He'd only been awake for four hours plus his time in the net, but he felt tired.

"...Want some lemonade?" Offered Blaze. She took a small bottle out of her jacket. Off-brand, cheap lemonade you might see in the corner shop, next to some awful sandwiches. In the current situation, that was the equivalent of the nectar of the gods.

"...I'll be alright. Valerie, you?"

"Look, you can just call me Val. I think we've known each other long enough, with that last battle. I... yeah, I'm pretty thirsty."

There was quiet. Arthur couldn't think of anything to say. Eventually Blaze spoke. "...Hey, Valerie..."

"Yes?"

"Do you... believe me now?" Said Blaze.

Valerie smiled. "You know what? Sure."

"Uh, believe what?" Said Arthur. "Do you have an idea?"

"Well... it's nothing so serious... I just..." Blaze blushed. "I think..."

"I think that we're related." Said Valerie. "She's probably my great-great-great-great grandmother."

"I'm like, really great." Said Blaze. She didn't seem to have the normal energy to put into her jokes. But she was trying to lighten the mood, and Arthur appreciated that immensely. Having your soul crushed was tiring.

He cracked a smile. His heart felt like it had burnt out after the last fight, but it still had a sense of humour at least. "...I don't doubt it. Look at the eyes, after all."

'Heh, told ya...' Echoed Chroma.

"Maybe we should... use the secrets." Said Blaze. "I could create wonders and terrors beyond your imagination."

"Nah." Said Valerie. "...Unless you know you need them for sure. Aegis... I'm gonna hate myself forever, admitting this, but... he had a point. One moment of weakness and you could wipe out humanity."

Blaze nodded. "Yeah. It's just hard... knowing that there's a chance I could do something. Especially here, where there's nobody else to see them. But you're right..."

"Second-guessing that kind of decision seems normal after what just happened." Said Arthur. "...The fact you actually just say 'hey, is it time to use this or no?' Is... a pretty good leader quality."

"...Being a leader is weird." Said Blaze. "It just kind of happened because I know what's going on, sort of, maybe. I didn't vote for me." She joked.

"Well, wanna vote right now?" Said Valerie. "All in favour of keeping the only person at all qualified to lead us through this in charge?" She raised a hand semi-sarcastically. Arthur lifted his own. Blaze sighed and lifted hers.

"There you go, democracy. Boom." Said Ember.

They rested a little more.

Eventually, Treble stirred again. Arthur was next to him in an instant. "Hey, you okay now?"

"...Yeah... but..." Treble stared up. "Arthur... is Flare... Gregar, Alias, Ethan, what... are they..."

"...Not dead." Said Arthur. He had to believe that. So he would. "They've gone- been thrown to somewhere... Blaze called it..." The name eluded him. Mentioned only in passing.

"Beyondard." Said Blaze. "That's what the world calls itself. I saw it as I observed..."

Treble lay still. "She's okay, right? She'll... I'll see her again?"

"..." Arthur didn't know how to answer. Optimism that could be baseless, pessimism that could crush.

"Yes." Said Blaze.

"Good." Treble sat up. "I... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you guys..."

"It's fine." Said Arthur. "You were able to stop us getting captured by whoever those guys were."

"The Save." Said Treble. "Bass called them The Save."

 **Author's notes: At the request of my other two writers, I'm going to put a list of which major characters were made by who. As a short forenote, we all collaborated, so you could argue some are dual-owned, but that's going to make everything hella complicated so I'm just showing the original creators. (?) denotes that they had some precedent as a battle network character but they're so different they might as well not be.**

 **Consort/me: Arthur, William, Joe, Denny, Treble(?), ArsenalMan, MathMan, PlugMan, SheepMan, PumpMan, Serges, Morgan, Rhys, R(?), Beta(?), Gray(?), FightingMan, SageMan, PhantomMan, LeviathWoman, ColonelSys, IrisSys, ChanceMan, BitByte.**

 **RushAlias: Alias, Gregar(?), Flare(?), Ethan, Midnight, Alisha, Decibel, Amaterasu, Crescendo(?), Beast viruses, Sergeant, Miles, Zoano, NetGaiaSys/Chip, Ciel.**

 **JaneValentine007: Blaze, Ember, Burn, SteamMan, Valerie, Chroma, The Main Villain Of This Arc, Nobody, Aegis, BeautyButterfly, and likely most minor villains of this arc. Notably her SF-era characters actually existed before I started this story, but that's neither here nor there.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: Never seen that show... not sure we even have it in Britain. BLAZE/Nobody being the real argument starter, not too surprising, and Beauty Butterfly getting stopped by nobody? How weak do you have to be to be stopped by nob- oh, right. Shh, dimensional areas are from the anime. I hope that didn't spoil the creativity...**

 **LeigionnaireBlaze: Correct on all counts- you seem to know your legends. It's a good story, no?**

-Deleted Scene-

"Okay, so the first rule of Mu is that you don't talk about Mu."

"...What's the second rule?"

"Do not. Talk. About Mu."


	55. Chapter 55: Sol

"The Save, huh?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "...Weird name."

"Yeah. But I didn't make it." Treble sounded less cheery than normal. It wasn't hard to guess why.

"..." Arthur tentatively placed a hand on Treble. He felt a little unusual, but it didn't go numb or change colour. "Flare will be okay."

Treble nodded. "It's... how did they ever recruit Bass? And... I just... I..."

"You couldn't hope to beat him with no battlechips. It would have been tough even if we were in perfect condition." Said Arthur. "Don't dwell on it."

"Hey, guys." Said Valerie. "Do you want to rest a bit longer, or should we set off?"

"I'm good to go." Said Arthur. "Treble, no problems?"

"I'm okay."

Blaze gazed up at the air. "Hey, Val... you see that?"

Valerie looked up. "Olive stream?"

"Yeah. Is that Ethan up there?"

"I think so. Hey, good news Arthur. Ethan's found some shelter. He's okay for the moment."

Arthur's spirits lifted a little. "Great! ...But, if you see him in the EM waves?"

"I don't know what it means either." Said Blaze. "Anyway, on to Lan!"

* * *

"So, why did Pantheon run off on us anyway?" Said Arthur. "Valerie, you knew him before this?"

Valerie huffed. "Well, we tried to kill each other a few times, and he steered me towards some awkward situations. Always kept going on about 'testing' me and stuff. He tested my patience alright. Gran, any ideas of your own?"

"Don't call me that, I'm not even an adult!" Blaze clapped a hand over her heart in mock shock. "...Anyway, can't speak for the guy, but Aegis is a pretty big threat by our stories. Sure, he's got a good intention, just his methods are to just kill anything that's causing the problem. At least, according to stories."

"...Wow. Swell guy." Valerie rolled her eyes. "Here I thought Bud's ideas relied on force too much."

"Bud?"

"Oh, uh, Bud Bison." Said Valerie. "He's the strong guy. Not the brightest, and a bit too keen to follow orders, but... He's friendly enough. Know anyone like that?"

"Dex?" Said Blaze. "Kinda sounds like Dex. Is he any good at shogi?"

"Shogi? Don't think so." Said Valerie. "Anyway, back to Pantheon. He's always been a bit of a mystery, since he never stuck around long enough for me to question him. At least now I know why Aegis is like that..."

"Actually, why is he like that?" Said Blaze. "You're not a guardian. You don't have the secrets."

"...But does Aegis know that?" Said Ember. "...Treble, reign it in."

"Trying! Trying. Just, my power can get a bit weird if I get lost in thoughts." Said Treble. "I was... actually wondering if I'd be able to hold in the bugs if I transformed. Never succeeded before, but I haven't tried in ages..."

"Give it a try next time we stop." Said Arthur. "You run much faster than we walk, after all."

They walked for a while.

Treble suddenly coughed.

"You ok?" Blaze turned.

"Ye- Cplrth!" Treble coughed again, and then once more. "...Bleh." He spat out a red orb, with a few slightly blotchy patches. "...Oh. Well, something just tried recalling this out of the PET."

Arthur looked at it. "Is that... a zero camera?"

"Helllllooo?" Treble called into the camera.

"Uh, explain?" Said Valerie.

"There's a navi called Zero who has a network of cameras he can control." Frowned Blaze. "Sure hope he hasn't heard anything he's not meant to."

There was a bit of static from the grille on the back of the orb. "Come in... anyone, respond..."

Treble held it next to his mouth. "Hello?"

There was a crackle from the other end of the line. "Treble! Report, do you know if the netops are okay?" Chaud.

"Uh, they're right here. Some of them." He tossed the orb over to Blaze.

Blaze caught it. "Chaud! Am I glad to hear you."

"Blaze, status?"

"I'm fine, Valerie is fine, Arthur is fine, Ethan is in peril but I don't know how to help him, we're on the way to Lan."

"Priorities! Ethan needs your help first if he's in immediate danger!"

"This is an area beyond time. Ethan is currently stuck in a seperate timeline, and he'll get out of there by his own means if does get out, so we're moving on Lan. Can you offer us any help?"

"We've found that we can jack in to this... rift. Currently the situation is contained, but I want you all back alive!"

"Not without Lan." Said Blaze. "Listen, if you can send ProtoMan and SteamMan to come and help out, that would be great. Maybe Roll too if Mayl's up to it."

"Can do. Zero's already in here. We can't seem to get a lock on this camera though."

"Probably because of the time weirdness. Just explore and make a map. You'll find us when you need to. Anything else?"

"...No. Keep this if you need to contact me. Chaud out."

Blaze looked at the orb. "Anyone got room for this?"

Arthur raised a hand, and recieved it before stuffing it into a pocket. "Things seem to be looking up."

"Yeah... but we're still struggling in the big picture." Said Valerie. "I want to know more about this Save. What are they up to? It's the Andromeda key all over again..."

"Well, perhaps I can answer you!" A new voice called down. There was a flash as Valerie was replaced with Valor, her reflexes fast as a whip. Ember and Treble were in front of thier netops in mere moments.

A navi dropped from above, in familiar yellow with a black face-mask. A golden ball of light hovered over their shoulder.

"You! I ought to smash your face in!" Shouted Treble.

"Ah, but Bass did the deed. I merely followed orders. I'm Bit-Byte, head of the nightmare police. And you'll be coming with me, guardians of Mu." They held out a palm.

"As if. As someone who's a member of an actual police force, that's not how you arrest people." Said Blaze.

"Yeah, pretty sure Bob Copper would have something to say about this." Valor crossed her arms. "Want to say anything important before we beat the snot out of you?"

Bit-Byte clicked their fingers and a dozen navis filed out from behind him, in yellow. Not individually customised, but likely a cut above the normal civilian models. "I believe you ought to. You see, we seek to create a glorious future- A future optimised, free of humanity's great mistakes! And with the sight of Mu, then such dreams will no longer need to be dreams! Join us, and we could forge a world anew!"

"Step off." Said Valor. "Like I'd trust you after last time. And besides, I'm pretty sure altering history isn't such a good plan."

"What's your real motive?" Accused Arthur.

"I'm serious! And if you won't comply, then I'll capture you by force! Attack!" Commanded Bit-Byte.

Treble audibly scoffed. Some might have called that getting cocky, but when you then proceed to more than quadruple in size and then bowl through the charge, crushing half thier forces outright, then it's not cocky, but justified.

Ember flashed past Arthur and eviscerated an attacker, before slicing a net out of the air with razor-sharp precision.

"Now, LavaStage!" Called Blaze. Arthur realised she had her PET, even if he didn't. For some reason. The floors all caught fire, and most of the nightmare police hopped around, only making things worse by hopping onto different tiles.

Valor strode forwards, unaffected and collected, and then tossed a card into the air before snapping it into her mouth almost casually. "Wanna run?" The target navi was rooted to the spot for fear of the lava, despite being the only one who would benefit from moving. "HeatBall2!" Valor palmed a large ball or bomb of some kind expertly, tossed it from hand to hand once and then leapt into the air and dunked it down, a blast of flame billowing out, but leaving her unhurt.

Bit-Byte seemed taken back. "You- you shouldn't possibly be so strong already! I..."

Blaze grinned. "You attacked again immediately. But time just isn't on your side!"

"I'M COMING FOR YOU!"

Bit-Byte spun and was slammed by Treble, jaws closing around him but not managing to crush. "Gahaa!" He vanished immediately, a charm falling to the floor. The rest of his forces went with him.

"What a joke." Said Valor. "Seriously, we mopped the floor with those guys!" She shimmered and returned to normal.

"It was... pretty easy, yeah." Said Arthur.

"Don't let it get to your heads! We, uh, just totally obliterated them." Said Blaze with a grin.

Treble shrunk back. "These escape charms are getting annoying." He sighed and shrugged.

Ember rolled her mask up. "Still, you all heard what he said. This is some valuable information."

"Yeah, yeah... but can we really trust it? I mean, it's not like he could have been lying." Said Valerie.

"Hey, let's talk about it while we're on the move. Sure it's nice we've got some info, but Lan is our target here!" Said Blaze. "...Wait, you're all okay right? Trying to get used to leader stuff..."

"Not a scratch." Said Arthur. Treble shrunk back and nodded.

"All good." Said Valerie. "...And that goes for Chroma too."

* * *

"When are we even going to get near Lan? We've been walking for ages!" Said Valerie.

Blaze shrugged. "I'm just following the timestream."

A while passed.

"I'm getting seriously bored of this place." Said Blaze. "I wish we'd get attacked again. At least it would give us something to DO."

"Really?" Arthur looked at the surroundings, currently a setting sun in a desert. "But look at all these different places we're going through. They're all pretty cool."

"Nah, it's getting boring for me, too." Said Ember. "Plus we have to be constantly nervous about the whole getting attacked thing. And I worry Blaze is going to accidentally activate the charm we have before we're ready..."

"Wait, what?!" Arthur looked at Blaze. "We have one of their charms?"

"Bass left it behind."

"...I just don't get that guy." Said Valerie. "Is he normally like this, or?"

"Nope." Said Treble. "Normally he just wins and either deletes the enemy or disappears. Doesn't tend to leave stuff unless you beat him."

Arthur took the Bass chip out of his pocket. "I'd much rather have Ethan and company than a single chip."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Treble patted around his chest for a second before pulling the PET out of seemingly nowhere. "I think you might want this. Y'know, so we can use attacks."

"...Yeah that helps."

Valerie sighed in frustration. "You know what's bothering me? Look at that." She pointed at a patch of empty sky.

Blaze frowned. "...What's up with that timestream? Seems kind of... patchy."

"Uh, what?"

"Don't worry about it." Blaze brushed Arthur off. "...Well, I know we probably should investigate, but I think Lan has to come first. We can't be too far away now!"

They kept on walking. And walking. Arthur took the Zero camera out of his pocket. It was crackling. "Hello?" He held it up like a phone.

"Oh, who is it?" Said Ember.

The audio sounded abyssmal, but Arthur could vaguely make out a message. "We've encoutered... m...ious fighter... Can't get past... Called... Panth..."

Valerie scowled. "That said what I think it said, right?"

"...yeah." Arthur grimaced. "That guy really doesn't like you, huh?"

Blaze seemed to fret. "Oh no, ProtoMan... What if he gets deleted? I know he's strong, but Pantheon..."

"He'll be okay." Said Treble. "He can fight me and Gregar no problem, even if he doesn't have the greatest winrate. Some guy with a wizard can't be that much harder."

"And besides, Burn and SteamMan aren't pushovers either!" Said Ember.

"You're right. Still, if Burn were here, then I'd have someone else to help lead." Said Blaze.

"Who's Burn? ...Was he that one muscle guy? Came in and out a few times when you questioned me?" Said Valerie.

"He's my older brother- and he's got much more experience leading than I do." Said Blaze. "Ever heard of Team SteamMan?"

"Uh, no."

"Team Colonel?"

"..." Valerie bit her lip. "...knew I shouldn't have skipped history."

Blaze shrugged. "An organisation called Nebula took control of the entire net in a surprise attack. To retake it, the officials organised everyone into teams... uh, sort of anyway. Every area's best official was assigned as team leader and instructed to assemble elite task forces to take back their areas. And Burn was the leader for Cyber City, since Chaud was heading up a team that was handling the whole country. He was one heck of a leader, let me tell you that."

"Wow. That sounds kind of scary, honestly." Said Valerie. "I can't imagine trying to be responsible for anyone... apart from myself, I guess."

'Pfft, you're our Mega Man's second mom and we both know it.'

"H-hey! Chroma! Am not!"

Blaze laughed a bit. "Bail someone out of a bad situation and nobody ever lets you live it down, eh?"

Ember smiled, before suddenly turning. "Enemies!"

Arthur went from watching the small tease to fully alert in a split second. "Where?!"

Ember looked around. "..."

Treble sniffed. "I don't smell anything... No, wait!" He jumped, standing in front of the group. There was a ripple in the air.

Bit-Byte suddenly went flying backwards out of the rift, into the floor, almost deleted, but still landed on his feet. The rift closed immediately. "Ugh... Gahaah..."

"You! Why are you here again!?" Shouted Arthur.

Bit-Byte tried to get into a fighting stance, and Ember took one step forwards and pushed him over. "No."

"I'll never talk! You'll know eventually!"

"Well, I'm bored NOW." Said Blaze. "Talk, because I have several people with a very large, very justified hatred of you."

"N... fine! It was this navi with a cloak! We came to blows and he threw me through time! Now look, you can't delete me! Y-you gotta-"

"Orange head fins?" Interrupted Treble.

"Uh... y-yeah?"

Ember looked at him. "Oh, he must have sent you here as an alternative to deleting you himself. Well, I'm happy enough to oblige after you attacked us."

"Which side is he on?!" Said Blaze, to the others. "First he throws Ethan into another dimension and nearly deletes Treble, but now he send us one of The Save's members, basically gift-wrapped?!"

Valerie shrugged. "Well... Hey, you." She stared at Bit-Byte. "What are your plans regarding Lan? How's he doing?"

"We can't find him. We've... run into MegaMan several times, but he's too strong, and he keeps picking apart our attempts to capture him with his crazy luck!"

"...Anything else you want to tell us? Why are you people doing this, and who leads you?"

"W-We're lead by Sco-"

There was a tearing sound. Arthur jumped back just in time to avoid a blast hitting him, and smoke billowed out.

"Hey! What the-"

The smoke was abruptly cleared with a gust of wind to reveal Bass, foot on Bit-Byte's chest and buster ready. "You weren't supposed to survive that."

"Bass! Give back Ethan!" Treble jumped forwards, and Arthur suddenly had a horrible, frightful feeling. Deja Vu's ugly stepsister. Bass threw a hand forwards, and a rift appeared, moving forwards. Treble's extra agility let him dodge narrowly, but as he rounded on Bass, Bass discharged a buster at point blank, launching Treble back and into the rift.

Arthur made a split-second decision. "No!" And jumped into the rift.

* * *

The feeling of getting catapulted through glue returned. Arthur was vaugely aware of Blaze and Valerie fighting Bass, but blacked out for just a moment, and then lost any sense of them.

He hit the floor, and didn't throw up this time. "Oof... Treble?"

"Phew, you turned up just in time! Thought I was dead then!" Came Treble's voice. Arthur realised it was coming from his waist.

He sat up. He was on bleached stone tiles of some kind, in the middle of a sunny day. "...You're back in the PET?"

"As soon as we left that place I started losing my ability to be real. I'd probably have just faded to nothing if you hadn't turned up."

"Glad I chose to jump in, then... but where are we?"

"No idea."

Arthur looked around. "...Seems like a normal place."

"Oh, not again!" Called someone from behind Arthur. They had a strange accent...

Arthur turned and saw noone. "Uh... hello?"

"I can't believe he's gotten sucked up into another world, A-GAIN."

"Where are you?!" Said Treble.

"Ah, this must be your first time here." Something floated up, into Arthur's field of vision.

"Treble, I'm not seeing things, right? That's a sunflower."

"Uh, yeah, that's a flying sunflower."

"The name's Otenko."

"...Oh, I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere before..." Said Arthur. "..."

"Amaterasu has a chip of you. She showed it off to everyone." Said Treble. "So, uh... Where are we now?"

"And what's going on?!" Said Arthur. "Don't tell me we're stuck in another world as well!"

"Well, you're right and correct. This isn't your world!" Said Otenko. "I'd bet you're from the same world as that MegaMan, judging by your PET!"

"...MegaMan's already been here?!" Said Arthur. "How... what?!"

"Oh, we just found him lying around. Helped us deal with ShadeMan, he did!" Said Otenko. "Now then, I'll get you back home, but I'll need some help first."

"Wow, this whole thing's shaping up to be easier than anticipated. You can just send me back here and now?"

"Not... quite." Said Otenko awkwardly. "You see, I can't just do that here, I'd need more sunlight power."

"What? It's high noon." Arthur could feel the heat on his front from the sun. How would you get more than this?"

"I know! We'd have to go and use the, um, mirror thing! I know the series!" Said Treble.

"Series?" Said Otenko.

"Oh yeah, you're part of a popular cartoon back home!" Said Treble cheerily. "Some of my friends really love it! Is Django around? Can I get his autograph?"

"Uh, let's focus on the problem at hand. We're in the wrong universe by the sounds of things." Said Arthur.

"And anyway, you swapped places with Django! And I need him here you see, or the immortals could well run free!"

"Looks like we'd better get to work then." Said Arthur. "...What can I do?"

"Well, we've got to go and get our hands on a Solar Sensor." Otenko seemed to have done this before. "That way we can use your PET to operate the Pile Driver!"

"Wait wait wait, you're gonna put him in the piledriver?!" Treble called. "Are you sure?! That thing's for destroying vampires!"

"Yep. Lots of concentrated sunlight should be all I need!"

"Where can I get a Solar Sensor?" Said Arthur. "I know I might seem rude, rushing like this, but my friends could be in danger without me."

"Ah, we hid it in town. Erm..."

"Where in town? And which way is that?" Said Arthur.

"I don't... really know. But town's that way, so off you go!"

Arthur started to walk, as fast as he could.

* * *

He reached town just a few hours later. "Alright, so where can I start searching? And I'm not going to stick out, am I?"

"Of course you will, but it's okay! I'm the will of the sun, they're friendly to me!" Said Otenko.

"Well. Excuse me, I'm looking for something!" Arthur called at the nearest person.

"Oh, Django's gone missing again?"

 _How often does this guy get sucked into other worlds?!_ "I think so. I need a Solar Sensor."

"A... never heard of that, sonny. Try the shop, over there."

"You'd best hurry, you know." Otenko warned. "If the sun goes too low, then I can't send you home today!"

Arthur sprinted over to the shop. "Solar sensor! Urgent!"

"A... what, now? Solar Sensor? You've got to be joking, those are so rare... hah, well, had me going for a second." Laughed the shopkeep. Arthur was now sweating profusely.

"Where next?!"

"Um... You know, I bet it's hidden somewhere secure, so normal people don't find it by accident." Said Treble. "Any ideas, Master Otenko?"

"Ooh, maybe we hid it at the top of that building?" Otenko mused. "Perhaps if you just climbed up, then we could find it!"

Arthur looked at the building. Tall and with slightly crumbly stonework, plants threatening to overgrow the whole thing. "There's no way up inside?"

"Nope! You'd better hurry, we've only got an hour left!"

"An HOUR?!" Arthur swallowed. "Then here goes nothing. Treble, warn me if I'm taking too long." He walked up to the side of the building. He'd never even climbed a flagpole before, let alone a building. At least the architecture here offered plenty of footholds...

Slowly, he got one hand up, then one foot up. Arthur looked ahead, trying to see where to place a hand next. He was just a meter off the ground, and already a minute had passed.

"You're... you're scared of heights, aren't you? Are you going to be okay?" Said Treble.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Arthur was fully aware he was already at said bridge. He grabbed a ledge, and hoisted himself up. Ever so carefully, he slipped a foot onto a ledge while gripping a small bit of decoration that jutted out, and then with a single sharp Snap, the decoration broke off and Arthur fell. It was only a small fall, two and a half meters, and Arthur hit the floor on his back with a thud, wheezing. "Ow, owowowow, my head..."

"A-Are you okay?!"

"Just fine... a bit sore. No concussion." Said Arthur. "Least I didn't break anything. But how can I get up onto that ledge?! I can see a way to the top from there, but..."

"I know!" Otenko turned. "Trinity, come over here!"

Someone in a blue poncho ran over. "Oh, Otenko. What's wrong?"

"Help this boy up. You're going to do something heroic!"

"Erm, hi?" Said Arthur, as Trinity offered a hand. Arthur took it.

"Okay master Otenko, what do I get to do! Woo, I can't believe I get to steal Django's spotlight!"

"You need to let this boy stand on your shoulders." Said Otenko.

"Eh? ...Aw."

"Just a hand up to reach that ledge will be fine." Said Arthur. "I... need to climb this building."

"Okay!" Trinity held out his hands, cupping them. "Step on, I'm real strong!"

Arthur carefully stepped onto Trinity's hands. "Here we go." He was lifted, and grabbed the ledge. Internally he was screaming just a bit, but was crushing that feeling under fear of leaving Blaze to fight Bass alone. He got up onto the ledge. "Thanks." He looked up, and frowned. One hand up. One foot up. Another foot up... next... hand... up... ohgodIhadtoholdonwithonehand.

It was a painstaking cycle, and a slow one.

"Arthur, we're spending too long!"

"How much time do we have left?"

"Half an hour! And we need to get down, too!" Said Treble.

Getting down. The though terrified Arthur even more than going up. But still... one... foot... up... "I'm gonna scream if things get much worse."

"Keep at it! We're two-thirds up!"

Arthur grabbed a vine, stretching his hand up. "Wait, I'm going to throw up, not scream." The vine threatened to come loose.

"Left foot up, come on! Everyone is counting on you!"

"Left... Foot... UP!" Echoed Arthur, just managing to get his foot up.

"That's good!"

Arthur made a funny warbling sound. "Help, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, Aaaaaa..."

"Just... please, I know you can do it!"

Arthur got his next hand up. Climbing was slower still, but he wasn't stopping. He wasn't faltering. And then his foot slipped loose. What followed was the loudest, most high-pitched scream that anyone could have produced. Thankfully, in the face of death by falling, Arthur gripped the vine tighter, rather than letting go. "UWAAAH! THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! AAAH!" He swung round to the side slightly.

"JUST PULL YOURSELF IN!" Shouted Treble.

Arthur clamped his arm next to himself. The vine was apparently made of strong stuff. It was a herculean effort, but with one almighty tug, Arthur lifted himself upwards onto one last ledge. And then, he was at the top of the tower.

Otenko floated up. "Hey, did you find the Solar Sensor?"

Moss. Stone. Nothing else. "...I'm stuck here, aren't I?"

"Hey, couldn't you have floated up and checked yourself?" Said Treble.

"Erm, nevermind that! We just need to find that sensor."

"It's no use." Said Arthur, staring at the moss so he wouldn't have to comprehend he was at the top of the tower. "What now?"

"..."

"The sun will always rise tomorrow. You won't be trapped here forever." Said Otenko.

Arthur nodded.

"I wish there was something I could do from in here... If only we were still in the dimensional area, I could do this myself!"

"Without Django here, how can I deal with the Immortals? Perhaps the Gun Del Sol could... hmm..."

"Gun Del Sol..." Whispered Arthur. "Wait! Otenko, the Solar Sensor, how does it work?!"

"Well, it lets you store solar energy!"

"Could..." Arthur went into his pockets. There were a few chips he always carried, just for the sake of tinkering with his folder or because they had some special meaning to him. He took out his pack, and got one particular chip, given as a gift so very long ago. It had even left his hands briefly, before getting returned. GunDelSol2 C. He clicked it into the PET. "This work?" A little solar bar appeared at the bottom, at max.

"Hm? Hmm... well, I'll be. It might! Quick, to the Solar Pile!"

Arthur nodded. "Gotta... get down. Augh, if only I'd thought of this earlier!"

"At least you have thought about it! Better than getting stuck here."

Arthur clipped his PET back onto his jacket. "Here goes." He turned, and slid one leg over the edge of the building. "How long do I have to get to this solar pile?"

"Twenty minutes!"

Arthur took a deep breath. "Then let's hope I can get over my fear." He placed a foot down, then a hand down, and made it a rhythm. His heart was pounding, and his knuckles were white. But he was climbing down faster than he'd gotten up, driven by desperation and the need to get back to Blaze.

It took fifteen minutes to get down from what had been a forty-minute climb. Arthur touched down on the floor. "Which way!?"

"Follow me!" Called Otenko, floating off. Arthur sprinted after him, glancing at the sun that was just starting to get close to setting. Arthur ran as fast as he could, past a startled few members of the town before finally coming to a seemingly empty altar on the ground, strange inscriptions around it.

"Is this it? Quick, what do I have to do, we can't have long left now!"

"One moment!" Four plates rose out of the altar, and surrounded Arthur.

"What's going on..?"

"Oh, I know what to do here! ...I think." Treble started. "We just need to transfer some sunlight! So... hold up the PET!"

Arthur held the PET to the sky. "Come on... come on..."

"And shout Taiyoh!"

"Yep, he's right! You'll be on your way, with the power of the sun!" Added Otenko.

Arthur took a deep breath. "TAI-YOOOOOH!"

* * *

Ascending into the realm beyond time of your own free will seemed to be considerably easier than getting forced into or out of it. Arthur just felt weird, and somewhat blinded by the light that had hit him. He was aware of something- a rift, in front of him. He walked forwards, and stepped out onto solid ground.

"Blaze? Hello?"

"Arthur! How did you- nice one!" Said Valerie.

"Is that the way home?" Said someone Arthur didn't recognise. Golden hair, a red scarf, and a Gun Del Sol at their waist... Django?

Arthur heard Otenko calling through the rift of sunlight. "Hurry up, Django! This won't stay open when the sun goes down!"

"Otenko! Okay, but one thing first!" Django looked back to Blaze. "The sun will rise tomorrow- remember that, and I'll guide your way wherever I am with the SolCross!" Django jumped into the rift, just as it closed.

"What was that about?" Said Arthur.

"Wow, thought you were lost then." Said Valerie. "Once I saw they didn't have this weird dimensional area down there..."

"Guuuys! I got SolCross!" Squeaked Blaze. "SolCross Ember! This is the coolest!"

"It's... yeah, this is pretty neat." Said Ember. Arthur looked to see her in a different cross to any he recognised. Her blades on her boots and arms were glowing like they'd been heated, and she was wrapped in a red scarf. There was an icon of the sun on her front, and most notably, the hair coming from the back of her helmet had been replaced with a stream of flame. And she was just smiling brightly.

"Woah, what did I miss?" Said Arthur. "I was only gone for like... two hours?"

"Two hours?" Said Valerie. "Arthur... it's been nearly two days."

 **Author's notes: And the Boktai scenario, or rather, the background of it. Arthur can't always be at the centre of attention. Hopefully I didn't make a mess of pacing.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: I'm hoping to give dimensional areas an overall different feel in importance here, but they will ultimately end up quite similar to the anime. I will make mentions of everything there, although not all at once- after all, there's nobody better to tell me how your character would act than yourself. And our characters stand tough!**

 **TyrantChimera: Oh yes indeed, this is a dire situation- not helped by the fact that whenever alternate timelines get involved things can become very confusing very fast.**


	56. Chapter 56: Goals

"T-Two days?"

"Uh, forty-one hours to be exact." Said Ember.

"I was gone for maybe an hour on my end." Said Arthur.

"Oh, that's not good. What about that Ethan guy?" Valerie looked back.

Blaze sighed. "I'll think of something." then she brightened up. "Now that I've got Sol Cross, then there's no way we'll ever lose in a fight."

"...Hey, wait a moment. Don't you have six crosses now?" Said Treble. "Doesn't that system cap out at five?"

"Oh, I um, overwrote yours." Said Blaze. "I figured I could get it back from you if I needed it, but I can't get the others here..."

"Fair enough."

"Phew. I was worried you'd be kind of mad."

"Never for making a good choice." Said Arthur. "And... meh, doesn't bother me that much anyway."

"..." Treble seemed like he was going to say something, but didn't.

"So then! Should we go and get Lan? It's been ages and AGES!" Said Valerie. "Where did this guy go, the end of the world?"

"...I know you're eager, but as leader I'd like to call for a rest." Said Blaze. "We've all been in battle and Arthur looks like he's been ill."

"...Heh." Valerie smiled. "Man, what I'd give to see Prez say that."

"Prez?" Arthur sat down. He'd become oddly accustomed to just sitting down on any floor that wasn't entirely made of lava and being able to sleep within ten minutes. An unusal skill, but definitely a useful one.

"Oh, Luna Platz. She's the class president." Valerie sat down herself. "...Bit of a control freak, and she's really bossy."

"Ew." Said Ember. "That's basically the opposite of Blaze."

"Oh, man, control freaks." Said Arthur. "If there's anything that's going to make someone stop following orders, it's handing out loads of useless orders."

"Leadership's a weird thing." Said Blaze.

"Hey, at least you're accepting it now." Ember inspected her blades.

Treble went over to a corner, and shifted his form. Arther felt a small gust of air as it was pushed away. He sat there and closed his eyes.

"Luna mellowed out a bit in the end." Said Valerie. "...A bit. At least I don't need to feel sorry for the people that actually listen to her now."

"HUH, CAN'T QUITE SEAL IN THE POWER... BUT MAYBE IF YOU GIVE ME SOME TIME."

"...What are you doing again?"

"He's trying to stop passively bugging everything near him. If he could, then we'd just be able to ride him."

"Oh, sweet. I can finally stop killing my feet." Said Blaze. "They've been, hehe, put through their paces."

Valerie just sighed and laid back at the pun. "Yo, Chroma?"

'Yes?'

"Do you want to, I don't know, talk a bit more? This might be the only chance we have with my great-grandma."

'Yeah, sure, whatever. She's not MY grandmother. Just someone with your vision, to me.'

"You could make yourself visible too." Suggested Arthur. "Kind of hard to direct a question at you when you're like that."

'...' The air rippled, and Chroma became half-visible. "Happy now?"

"Yeah."

Arthur was lying down when he remembered one last thing. "How are Burn and ProtoMan doing?"

"No clue. You've got the phone." Said Blaze.

Arthur remembered he'd put the Zero Camera into his pocket. It wasn't there now. "Oh no, did it disappear when I left the dimensional area?!"

"IT'S IN THE PET, I GRABBED IT."

Arthur went into his menus, and brought out the camera. "Phew. So how do I call with this thing..."

It crackled. "I can always hear through it." That was Zero.

"Hey, Blaze." Arthur tossed her the ball.

"Hiya Zero. How's everything going?"

"Pantheon fought us to a standstill and told us not to go in further. We've completely ignored him, and if he appears again then we'll be ready."

Valerie smiled. "Nice going. Good to see that guy can't just do as he pleases."

"Be careful, okay? And can you give Burn a message?"

"Yes?"

"...If I don't come out of this rift anytime soon... well, just don't worry and get on with life. It's time weirdness, I might come out twenty years in the future and I don't want him to be left standing around."

"...Understood. But you must know that we're not going to just accept that will happen- for you or for Ethan." He hung up.

Blaze rolled the ball back to Arthur.

"Cheery." He commented.

"Eh, It's a weight off me. Let's get some sleep."

* * *

Arthur woke up with his neck feeling as stiff as a board, and an arm made of plastecine. Still, eight hours can do wonders for your overall state. His mind was clearing pretty quickly, and his arms were nowhere near as sore as they had been after the climb.

"HEY, YOU'RE UP!" Treble attempted to whisper, waking up everyone else.

"Oh, hi Treble. Any luck?"

"YEAH, I'M... PROBABLY SAFE TO TOUCH."

Blaze rolled over and jumped up as though she hadn't been sleeping. "Gooood mooorning!"

"Val, get up." Said Chroma.

"Fiiine." Valerie picked herself up. "...Breakfast anyone? I could sure go for pancakes or bacon or something."

"I have..." Arthur went through all his pockets. "Beef jerky. Does that count as a bacon substitute?"

"Bleh." Valerie made a face.

"Aw c'mon. Beef Jerky is nice!" Said Blaze.

"...I wonder if I can eat it." commented Ember.

"We'll need to find some more food soon enough." Said Arthur. "And water, come to think of it."

"Leave that to us." Said Valerie.

"Let's get going. Lan surely can't be far now." Encouraged Blaze.

"ALL ABOARD!"

Arthur looked up. "...Can you get a bit lower? And remember- don't go too fast or we'll fall off!"

"OKAY, OKAY." Treble lowered himself. Blaze climbed up, then Valerie, then Arthur and finally Ember. It was a bit crowded. "OFF WE GO!"

"W-woah!" Valerie grabbed Blaze, who grabbed the central frill. And they were off.

* * *

Travel was indeed a lot faster and less tiring. "WHICH WAY NEXT?"

"Left!" Shouted Blaze.

"Hey, look at that!" Said Valerie. Arthur was completely unsurprised to see nothing.

"Isn't that the crazy butterfly lady?" Said Blaze.

Arthur recalled fighting her. "Oh, you've fought her too? Pantheon utterly wrecked her when we fought."

"Welp, guess it wouldn't be Pantheon if he didn't." Said Valerie. "Anyway, what's up with that timeline? She looks... different."

"I dunno. Onwards to Lan!"

Treble kept going.

"...So Blaze, I kind of gather that Valerie doesn't know any of the secrets you're supposed to guard, right? Are you going to tell her?" Said Arthur.

"Considering it." Replied Blaze. "Although, then again, maybe the world's come far enough not to need the secrets for anything anyway. Val, what do you think?"

"I... dunno. I mean, Aegis seems to be after me regardless, but I don't want that kind of responsibility. What if someone eavesdropped? Or there was a hidden microphone?"

"Fair enough. Anyway, think about it for a few days first."

"Yeah. But I've got a lot of stuff on my mind too. I hope Sonia's okay. Geo's probably looking after her."

"Uh, who?"

"Sonia Strumm. She's a musician." Valerie seemed to consider those words. "And, uh, Geo is... well, he's just someone I can relate to."

"I'm sure they're doing fine. We're the ones who're on a journey through time. Tsk, you know, time travel on TV shows always just took them straight where they needed to be."

"Not every day you get to meet with the physical incarnation of your navi, though." Said Arthur. "I guess that's not as big of a deal for Val, since she has a wizard."

"Look, I don't know how you think the future is but we don't go riding giant wolves around normally, as incredibly dramatic and imposing as this is." Said Valerie.

"STOP, YOU'LL MAKE ME BLUSH."

"Have to admit, it gives a nice feeling of power. We should totally ride him into battle." Grinned Blaze.

"You're forgetting that we actually CAN." Said Ember. "Might get bugged though. What even happens if a person gets a bug?"

"Let's not find out." Said Valerie.

* * *

They jumped through a rift. Immediately, Blaze threw her arms in the air and cheered. "At last! No more waiting, he's around here!"

Valerie didn't seem so thrilled. "We're clearly not the first- look around, gran!"

Arthur leaned over. This place might have been some kind of huge pavillion before, but it was a wreck. Lots of the stone tiles that made up the floor were shattered or covered with HolyPanels, so someone had been using Sanctuary, and someone else breaking the floor. Aside from that, there was debris everywhere, making Gregar's room look pristine by comparison, like there'd been a hail of shattered rock and dirt and metal. There were a few stalls, cloth canopies shredded or broken, and a few buildings with chunks taken out of their walls. This place was a battlefield alright.

"Treble, where's Lan?" Called Arthur. "Or MegaMan! You know what he smells like!"

"THIS WAY! HE'S DEEPER IN!"

Blaze stood up, staying balanced even as Treble ran. "...We need to hurry! I see the junk from a Gater attack!"

"Gater?!" Shouted and questioned Valerie.

"He doesn't use Gater because it's too strong!" Replied Blaze. "It's literally the most no-mercy attack he has!"

"Y-YEAH... I, WELL, AT LEAST IT'S NOT AGAINST US THIS TIME." Treble came up to a small doorway. "DO I BUST THROUGH OR CHANGE BACK?"

"We'll be squashed if you try and force it, plus if there are enemies inside you'll bug us all. Shift back, and everyone prepare for battle- Blaze, on your mark." Instructed Arthur.

Blaze nodded. "Here we go! Is everyone ready?"

There was a synchronised yes. Arthur took his PET in hand, and prepared to load some favorite chips, while Valerie was replaced with Valor.

"Okay, just remember to avoid hurting Lan. So be careful with any area attacks! Val, you go first, you've got heavy armor."

"Will do, gran."

"Hey, Treble, use this. You can soak up some damage too if you're careful." Arthur sent BugAura. It bubbled Treble neatly.

"Okay, Arthur, stay behind our navis. Let's move!" Commanded Blaze.

Entering the building was terrifying. The lights were flickering, and the scars of battle were ever deeper, but there were no enemies around. The sounds of combat were ringing out from ahead, and something seemed to click for Blaze.

"I know where this is! I helped clean it up!" She seemed horrified. "This is the expo, after the copybot exploded!"

"Which way?" Shouted Valor.

"Back out, the way deeper in is in one of the other buildings!"

Arthur turned just in time to see the doors slam.

An intercom buzzed. "Alas. You'll be going nowhere."

"Do I know that voice..?" Said Blaze.

"No time for that- what are your orders?" Said Valor.

"R-Right! There's a pane of highly reinforced glass up by that ledge for viewing us in here, Treble, break it! Ember, go stand by Treble and watch the room. Val, cover the door!"

Treble looked up to see the huge window. It was an easy jump up to by it, there was even a convenient ledge about the width for a person to comfortably stand on. He gave the glass an experimental scratch, and it held firm. Obviously made to withstand way more than should reasonably be expected. Transforming was out of the question, he'd crush everyone. So that left soul powers. He willed the glass to shatter, and to his credit, it began to crack when purple energy started to lash at it.

"Oh, intuitive of you." Called the intercom. "But you're too late! By the time you're out, Dynamo Comet will have finally brought down that accursed boy!"

"Treble, how long until you break that glass?" Asked Arthur.

"No idea!"

"Now then, go, viruses! A little overkill never hurt me!"

The air in the middle of the room grew hazy for a moment, and then a few viruses materialised, right near Blaze. She didn't panic, instead she jumped away from a swordy's slash and clicked a chip into her PET. "Ember go!"

The real challenge wouldn't be dealing with the viruses- Ember and Blaze were highly experienced fighters and Valor was strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with Gregar and Pantheon. It was avoiding hitting each other in such a tiny room. LavaStage would hurt Arthur and Blaze, and any kind of spread attack ran the risk of friendly fire. "Careful where you aim!" Arthur just hoped that would get the point across.

Ember at least seemed to be aware of her surroundings, neglecting to use the chip she'd been sent and making a quick, targeted strike with her blades, weaving around the swordy to disorient it before making a finishing blow. Blaze seemed to concentrate for a moment, sizing up the remaining few viruses, before striking out and punching a Puffy, her stance far from perfect, but enough to give her punch some force.

Valor just waded right in, and grabbed one virus in each hand, smashing them together and then hurling them into a third. Arthur observed carefully, making sure nothing had the chance to try breaking through Treble's aura, and narrowly avoided getting impaled on a Puffy spike. He saw Blaze getting rounded on by a pair of viruses, but Ember had her safe.

Valor was steamrolling the opposition, clearly used to worse. "Spectral Scream!"

 _Oh no._ "Careful!" Arthur threw himself in a roll to the side, as a stream of fire came a little too close for comfort.

"Arthur! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fi-" Arthur dodged another needle, and then felt a mild feeling of wetness on his back. "Just clear them out!"

Valor turned, just as Ember finished the fight.

"All okay?" Said Blaze.

"I'm fine. Arthur, I didn't hit then did I?" Said Valor.

"I think I'm..." Arthur realised his shoulder was stinging a bit. "Oh. Guess one of them grazed me. Not your fault."

"Arthur! Let me look. Turn around." Instructed Blaze. Arthur turned. "...Well, your jacket's wrecked, but the cut is minimal. Should scab over just fine. Maybe a small scar?"

"Oh, cool. Always wanted a scar." Said Arthur nonchalantly. "Shame it's not going to be anywhere good to show off."

"...Wait, Arthur's hurt?!"Called Treble.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Replied Arthur.

"What's your progress on the glass?" Questioned Ember, rolling up her mask.

"Try hitting it with a weapon. I've weakened it." Treble hopped down.

"Allow me." Valor cracked her knuckles, and Arthur had a sudden moment of realising that that ran in her family. She jumped up, and slugged the glass with a heavy-armored fist. It splashed everywhere, hitting the ground in several solid crystal balls. "...What just..?"

"Bugs." Answered Ember. "Anyway, we have a big hole, so let's go save Lan."

They clambered through. Arthur could feel something of a chill where his jacket was now expsing part of his back, and was fairly annoyed that it was oddly slack on one side. And that his shirt was probably a bit bloody. Still, it didn't hurt, at least.

"Arthur, you're totally sure you're okay right? Humans can't heal like navis." Said Treble.

"I'm alright, but the concern is appreciated. We'll have to clean it out and make sure it doesn't get infected, but I doubt a program that appeared a minute ago could have any bacteria. You just focus on helping out with Lan, okay?"

Blaze halted the group. "The copybots exploded inside this room. One of the side walls totally blew out, and the roof got launched, but most of it's still intact. From here forwards, I don't know the way."

"Just follow the sound of battle." Said Valor. "I'll go first." She grabbed the doorhandle, and twisted it, before carefully pushing it open. She peeked in and immediately slammed it shut, before there was a thud against it. She then ripped the door off its hinges, and ran in. Ember followed, then Treble and Blaze. Arthur looked at the abused door for a moment, and picked it up as an awkward shield of sorts. He moved in, to see a huge fight.

A plethora of viruses were moving about, too many to effectively gauge but enough to make anyone think twice before going in- getting swarmed wouldn't be any fun. But they were centering around a fight in the middle, any that dared get too close were deleted instantly. Arthur couldn't make it out, seeing flashes of gold through the swarm of viruses, and the cascading noise of the fight. Valor was muscling in, smashing the viruses this way and that, while Ember made sharp, targeted strokes to take out the ones that were realising a few much easier targets had come into the room. Arthur glanced around. Where was Tr-

Treble appeared by Arthur's side, aura still up. "The BugAura expires soon. Anyway, what can I do?" He was grinning with his fangs in a way that made it very clear what he could do.

Arthur fed in some chips, dropping the door in front of himself as cover. "ElementBreath, Fireburn2, VariableSword, Up Right Down. Focus on clearing out these viruses, MegaMan is doing fine. And don't hit our allies!"

"Never would! Here I..." Treble jumped up and kicked off the wall, catapulting himself straight into the ranks of the viruses. "Go!" Arthur watched carefully, tracking Treble's use of chips. His claws flashed, and he moved forwards, thrashing everything in reach. A line of Piranhas fired harpoons at him, oblivious to the fact those weapons would have been better used on Valor. The aura deflected them, and Treble took a deep breath before he blew a wave of crackling yellow 'fire', the electrolysis deleting the Piranhas and leaving a few more of the viruses damaged. Treble leapt straight in as the aura ran out, and started to fight tooth and claw, moving as fast as wind and shrugging off the damage that hit him like it was nothing worse than rain.

Arthur saw a ball of thunder moving in from behind. "Behind you!"

Treble flicked his head around and outright vaulted, landing with the thunder in front of him and the FireBurn ready, before blasting the viruses wildly. Aiming was completely unnecessary: Treble could have closed his eyes and he'd have hit three, no problem. Arthur glanced over to Blaze and his heart skipped a beat, as Ember took an unlucky hit- he had a fleeting thought, a single moment. Ember relied on evasion, more than even Treble. In a fight as chaotic as this, she was already in trouble.

"Shield Ember and Blaze!" Yelled Arthur.

Treble couldn't see them, but thought fast. He jumped back and upwards, then stabbed his claws into the wall, hanging there in a vantage point. And he held out his free hand, purple energy flickering weakly. He'd already cast pretty much up to his limit breaking the glass. Nonetheless, it deflected a stray RollingLog, before Blaze charged- She jumped, ducked into a roll and landed on her feet, before springing up, and punching a champy, of all viruses. It tried to punch back and again was deflected by Treble's but Arthur saw him starting to get that dull look, his energy running out.

"Blaze, get back!" Ember resumed her fight, covering Blaze before Treble could knock himself out. Arthur looked back, as Treble dropped off the wall, still in fighting shape, and cleared out his landing with the VariableSword.

"Treble, back to me. You can't stay out there." Commanded Arthur. Treble had limits like any other navi. Constant fire from viruses would wear anyone that wasn't equipped to resist them down. Treble sprinted back, swiping down one or two viruses.

"I'm still good to go!" Said Treble.

"...Your health's down by about half." Said Arthur. "Let's be more careful. Where's Valor?"

" _ **Oh, that's it!**_ " Suddenly, from the centre of the fight, Valor jumped up, wings spread. Arthur watched her blast the nearest group of viruses with fire, leaving the area cleared. The wings vanished as quickly as they'd appeared, and she dropped down, looking around.

Arthur finally had a good view of the fight. MegaMan was fighting like he was in a trance, dodging with immaculate timing and firing back, but he wasn't using the chips Arthur was so used to. MegaMan thrived on chips normally. Bathed in them. Used them like they were going out of style. Why would he be using only his buster?!

And his opponent. A very dark sea-green armor with streaks of glowing gold, and carrying a chakram- A huge, edged hoop with a handle. It glowed the same gold as the streaks on the armor, and they weilded it with elegance... and a hint of cockiness. Strikes flowed into each other, it was hard to tell which swings were attacks and which were simply flourishes. Of course, unless you were MegaMan. They made a graceful kick, a buster firing from their boot unexpectedly, and giving them the space to toss the hoop into the air, and allow a comet to come streaking out, the blast half-catching MegaMan. He staggered for a second, but dodged the sudden, brutal downward cleave from the chakram.

"Okay, let's intervene... somehow. Can your buster just poke him down?" Said Arthur.

"HYAAA!" Ember wheeled in, and caught the chakram on her blades, in a cross-hold. Dynamo Comet kicked at her, possibly forgetting everyone had just seen the hidden buster, and she threw the chakram off, before slashing and moving past him, thrusters igniting.

Valor came in from the other side, snapping up a battle card. She took out some kind of sword, and cut only to miss as Dynamo parried and then launched a comet at her point blank, sending her staggering. He was about to follow-up when Treble hit, his claws raking across Dynamo's arm and knocking him out of the attack. Ember jumped back in at full speed, and delivered a quadruple cut, before Blaze hit a few buttons on her PET.

"Sol Cross!"

Ember jumped back as there was the familiar 'Ping', and her armor took on the power of the sun. Arthur could barely look at it directly in combat, it was shining with a tremendous amount of light. She held an arm to the side, and her blades seemed to vanish, replaced by a cutlass in her hand. It glowed white-hot. She stepped forwards and started duelling, Valor and Treble holding their assaults as the two seemed to almost dance. Ember's fighting style seemed fast-as-light, she wasn't putting power behind her strokes in favor of making a lot of them. Dynamo Comet danced around, blocking and trying to hit back, pressed hard for space to move around in, and then took a blow to his side, Ember flashing past.

"Finish him!" Called Ember.

Valor clawed in a heavy one-two, and drew breath for just a second. "SPECTRAL SCREAM!" A blast of green fire washed over Dynamo, and then Treble attacked from the other side, as Arthur fed in chips.

"LifeSword! Now!"

Treble swiped the blade through the air, and it clashed against something with tremendous destructive force. As the fire cleared, Arthur saw Dynamo standing there, Chakram floating over his head, casting a circle of light around his body. It had a chunk taken out, where the sword had cut, fracture lines running through it, and was badly damaged where it had stopped Spectral Scream.

Dynamo grabbed the chakram from the air, and bowed easily. "I'll bid you farewell. We shall fight again, in another time." Arthur was struck by his voice- it sounded incredible, easily as good as a professional singer. He vanished, and a charm fell to the floor. Whether by accident or intention, it rolled in a neat circle before falling over.

"Damn, he got away. Guess that's to be expected." Said Valor.

"Are the viruses clear? MegaMan, you okay?" Called Arthur.

"Area seems safe. And... MegaMan, are you alright?!" Blaze ran up.

Arthur pushed over the door he'd been hiding behind, and walked over. Now that he got a good look, MegaMan seemed different. His boots and gauntlets were each set with a large green crystal, and white bands ran along his suit. "...You are MegaMan, right?"

MegaMan's face cover disappeared. " **Well... kind of? Am I glad to see some friendly faces here though! I was all out of chips!** "

"...Lan?" Said Blaze.

" **Yep.** " MegaMan shimmered, and was replaced by Lan. His clothes were a bit dirty, but he was completely fine otherwise, right down to the optimistic smile. MegaMan appeared next to him, looking normal this time. "Come on, I made a little fort! We can talk there."

* * *

'Fort MegaLan' was made of a LOT of rockcubes, in one of the back rooms. Arthur peered inside. It was a small room with a blanket and a pile of stuff in the corner. Lan reached and and grabbed a kettle, plugging it into a socket on the wall.

"So then, how've you been doing, Lan?" Said Blaze, as everyone sat around the kettle.

"Well, The Save came after me pretty soon after I ended up here, but we didn't have any trouble fighting them off." Lan smiled. "Still, it was a bit too dangerous to explore all the time, so once I found this place I used the computers to write a modification for MegaMan."

Arthur looked to the side. The room had probably been the security centre by the looks of things, covered wall to wall in computers.

"The, uh, wave change with him?" Said Valerie.

"What's a wave change?" Said Lan. "I call it... Cross-Fusion!"

"Tell me more- it sounds like something we could do with knowing." Said Blaze.

"Okay. By tinkering with the code for FullSynchro, and altering the way his programs are actually stored, then I was able to turn MegaMan into a sort of suit of armor? No, it's a bit different to that. But as long as we're in FullSynchro, then we can stay fused, and our minds get shared, so I can actually fight like him too!"

"...Can you do that for Ember?" Said Blaze.

"Sure. But it'll only work if you're in FullSynchro." Warned Lan. "So... you can't use crosses. And you won't be able to access your PET, so you'll only have five chips at a time."

"Those are some big drawbacks... But the added safety is a pretty big deal."

"Well, FullSynchro means double damage!" Said Treble. "Still... uh... any way to do it without?"

"It wouldn't be a good idea for us anyway." Said Arthur. "You can't contain your bugs in a fight."

"Hey, Lan. Do you know anything about The Save?" Valerie watched the kettle starting to boil. "You have the name, at least."

"Oh, yeah. I found one of their outposts and stole everything." Said Lan. "MegaMan, why don't you tell them while I just get the things I need for modifying Ember?"

"Lan, what-" Arthur started, wondering just how the young boy he'd set out to rescue had made more progress defeating their enemy than the rest of them put together.

"Good work as always." Said Blaze.

MegaMan went into the tiny fort and came out holding a clipboard with papers. "So, apparently their plan was to attack the showing for the Colonel and Iris systems to bait out this person called the 'Guardian of Mu', and then get them on their side, before handing them over to their bosses."

Arthur glanced at Blaze sideways. Blaze was suddenly holding a very good poker face.

"We've tried finding this Guardian of Mu, but we haven't yet."

"What do they want them for?" Said Chroma, half-visible.

"Well... we've only got the memo for Derby. He was planning to travel to 20XX+3, he wanted to try and stop someone. Look." MegaMan passed the clipboard around.

Arthur read the notes. 'Once Guardian obtained, go to 20XX+3 and stop Jackson going to work.' "Hmm... what for?"

"Wait, who is Derby?" Said Blaze.

"He's a wave changer, like Valerie. He shifts into BaboonKaboom."

"A wave changer 200 years before earth even had the technology. Huh." Commented Chroma.

Blaze suddenly looked to one side. "Ethan!"

Arthur looked too, and saw nothing. "...Is he okay?"

"..." Blaze bit her lip for a moment. "...Whew, he got away. He was being chased by a navi of some kind."

"What do you mean Ethan was being chased?" Said Lan. "And... where is he?"

"I can see EM waves. Ethan got thrown into another timeline by Bass, but I've been keeping an eye on him. He's..." Blaze focused on the air. "I can't really tell. I see different fragments of his time in there depending on where we are. Nothing we can do at the moment, unfortunately."

"So I think we should try and find out more about The Save." Said MegaMan.

"Yeah... and maybe take out some of their members, too. We've only got one charm to try and take us to their base, so we have to win then and there." Added Blaze.

"Well, which members are we on the lookout for?"

"I've only seen four wave changers, and they seemed like the bosses. Lots of those generic navis, but they're pretty weak." Said Valerie. "I wonder if we can just convince them to leave off? I'm actually good at that."

"Yeah... BaboonKaboom, TunnelMole, BeautyButterfly, and DynamoComet." Listed Ember. "Of course, there could be more. And there's the boss to think about."

"I wonder if we'll run into ClockMan again?" Said Lan. "He was behind this the first time."

"...You've done this before?" Said Arthur.

"Well, only MegaMan went time-travelling." Said Lan. "Okay, Ember. I'll start the install for the CrossFusion data now, but it'll knock you out."

"Okay." Ember nodded, and then collapsed, Blaze catching her.

"You'd better practice using CrossFusion, by the way. It's very different to just operating!"

"Alright. And then we can go on the hunt for The Save's wave changers. We'll just throw them back into their own times- no need to hurt them." Blaze nodded. "It's good to have you back with us, Lan."

 **Author's notes: And the plot progresses! But there's still plenty that's unknown. Just finished Xenoblade chronicles 2, as well!**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: Uncountable possible timelines, but I do want to be careful going into too many in case this story gets to the super-confusing levels of Homestuck. And whoo boy, sending a bunch of unequipped teens to the zero series would NOT be pretty.**


	57. Chapter 57: Bits

A calm fell over the room. The battles from earlier seemed to have fallen out of Arthur's mind, leaving him to realise that despite the fact his jacket was wrecked and he had a bit of a cut on his shoulder, he was feeling the best he had since coming into this strange realm.

"Lan, do you have any food? We just ran out." Said Valerie.

"Yeah, there's loads of instant noodles in the fort." Lan jumped into the makeshift building, and then threw out a packet of something.

"We'd better fill you in on what's happened while we were exploring." Said Blaze, propping up Ember as the data downloaded into her. As she began to recount everything to Lan, Arthur laid back a bit, looking around the room. It had a significantly more intact ceiling than the other one, where the copybots had exploded. He was tempted to wander off and poke around the explosion zone, but a nagging feeling of responsibility warned him that splitting from the others right now probably wouldn't end well. His eyes landed on Treble, who seemed... off. Out of character. Missing his normal positive vibe.

Treble sighed while staring at the far wall, accidentally making a quiet whining sound. He caught himself and stopped after just a split second, but Arthur had already heard it. He got up and walked over, before sitting next to Treble. Treble shuffled away. "Don't get too close..."

Arthur realised the floor felt somewhat gooey, like silly putty. "Are you okay? I know that your power can get difficult to control if you're feeling emotional."

"I..." Treble looked over at the group, and hiccuped.

"Flare." Said Arthur. It was a familiar problem.

"I was just thinking that it was good we got Lan out of so much danger, but that made me think about..."

"..." Arthur was strongly considering putting a hand on Treble's shoulder, but having it turn into putty wasn't an attractive option. He looked at Valerie, who was putting instant noodles into a teacup. "Hey, Valerie? You can see how Ethan's group are doing, right?"

"It's just replaying the chase. Like a video loop." Said Valerie.

"I just want to know- Flare, she's okay, right?"

"...Seems fine to me." Said Valerie. She glanced to the side for a moment, listening to Chroma. Arthur couldn't help but wonder if he'd been eavesdropping.

Arthur looked back to Treble. "At least for now, she's okay. I... well, the best we can do for her is get our enemies out of the way so she can have a safe return. Unless Blaze knows a way to get into that world, but... well, she'd probably have done it already if she could."

Treble nodded. "...I'm sorry for being this way. I'm always just... worrying over her. I feel like I don't even do anything else."

"What? Where's this coming from, you're a strong fighter, and without you Blaze and Valerie would have turned up to this fight with sore feet- and Blaze probably would have died if you didn't cast that shield on her. You're a key part of the team. In truth- I often worry I'm not very useful. That the group would get along fine without me."

"But... that's dumb. You bring level-headedness, I think? You... you don't cry over Ethan, or fret over the situation. You just pick out a strategy and go. And it works."

"I won't deny it- I'm not particularly emotional." Arthur was lost in thought, too, for a moment. "But emotions are good. They make us who we are. Honestly, the fact they have genuine emotion is what really makes navis feel like humans."

"Heh..." Whispered Treble sadly. "I don't even have the same emotional setup as other navis. I've got a beast's soul... AI... thing. But it can still feel worried..."

"You're practically more human than me. You're always full of happiness, or you have such real sadness. Well anyway, I have faith we'll be able to rescue Flare- but in the meantime, please, if you feel troubled, or there's anything I can do for you, just talk to me. I don't expect you to just... shoulder all this pressure. I never have."

"No. You were always good to me like that." Treble cheered up a little. "I still remember, months and months ago- when you promised that my battles were your battles. I, uh, never expected you'd actually come and fight next to me, but you're pretty good at keeping promises huh?"

"...Yeah." Arthur cracked a smile. "So then, do you want to go look around the room that exploded? I didn't think I should go alone, and it seems like your kind of thing."

* * *

It seemed like no time at all passed before it was time to rest. Time was flowing strangely in relation to the sky, and while the sun was out and bright, everyone absolutely knew that it was nighttime, thanks to the almost unbelievable sharp divide of dark sky coming from the west. Everyone went over the plans for tomorrow one last time.

"So, before we go over and try and confront this guy, we'll try and get all his powerful underlings out of the way. Blaze, you've seen glimpses of them in time, right?" Confirmed Arthur.

"Yeah. So's Valerie."

"I think we should go after BaboonKaboom first, since we actually know a little bit about him." Added Valerie. "Maybe we can convince him to tell us something about the others. With any luck, we can just talk him down."

"In the meantime, I'll try and master this... um, Lan, what did you call it?" Said Blaze.

"Cross-Fusion! It won't be too hard for you, you've got a high synchro rate." Filled Lan.

"Alright then. All of you, try and get some rest." Said Ember. "I'll keep watch."

"...Ok. Goodnight." Said Arthur, lying down on the floor.

A bit of time passed. Arthur shivered. Sleeping outside a bed was never particularly warm, but now that his jacket was wrecked it was just too cold. He was debating asking around for a blanket, but he realised Lan was already asleep. He sat up, eyeing around for some kind of blanket. "Hey." Whispered Treble. "Something wrong?"

"Just cold."

"Uh..." Treble looked down for a moment. "Here, take this." A brown cloak appeared in his hands. "I... uh, well, better than freezing, even if you don't like Bass."

Arthur took the cloak. He'd nearly forgotten Treble had it. "Thanks."

* * *

Arthur was woken up in the morning when Blaze screamed "BASS!"

"OhGodWhere?!" He rolled over, scrambling to get up. "...Oh."

"Oh." Added Blaze, as Valerie and Lan had already jumped up in confusion, MegaMan guarding Lan. "False alarm."

"That's one way to get woken up!" Commented Lan.

"I'll have to remember it for the next time you sleep in." Said MegaMan.

Arthur got up. "Sorry, I was just cold, and I have one of these cloaks, so..."

"No big deal. Let's move out for the day." Said Valerie.

"Let's have breakfast and pack up properly first." Said Ember.

"Yeah. Arthur, you don't mind carrying the food and stuff? You're the only one here that can't use cross fusion." Said Blaze.

"No problem. I promised to help however you saw fit, remember?" Arthur started looking around, judging what he could and couldn't carry. "Treble, will you be good to ride?"

"Sure!"

Setting up to travel took a few minutes as everyone packed up their few belongings. It was only a few minutes to get ready, although it did make everyone nervous that they'd forget something. They got outside the Expo centre, and Treble transformed in the pavilion. Then everybody hit their next problem.

"We don't have enough room on your back."

It had already been relatively crowded, but Lan and MegaMan were too much, and just couldn't fit.

"It's okay, I'll just..." Blaze carefully got up, and then climbed over the head frill, sitting on Treble's brow. "Room for one more in front of me?"

Ember jumped over. "Don't fall off."

"JUST GRAB MY... ARE THESE EARS? I DON'T THINK THEY DO ANYTHING." There was indeed a pair of triangles that resembled ears.

Blaze didn't hesitiate to grab them. "Hey Lan, you on?"

"Yep!"

Blaze grinned. "Giddyup!"

* * *

"So then, how long do you think it'll take us to reach wherever BaboonKaboom is?" Said Ember.

"Please, just any amount of time less than it took to find Lan." Replied Valerie.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll come to fight us?" Said Blaze.

"Careful, you'll jinx it." Arthur was all too aware tempting fate was a bad plan. "The last thing we want is to get ambushed."

"Yeah... By the way, Blaze?" Questioned Valerie. "The secrets of Mu... none of them can help that Ethan guy, right?"

"No. If I could, I'd get him out in a heartbeat."

"How's he doing, anyway?"

"Alive. His suit's pretty dirty. Not much happening at this moment. Hey, I see something. Val, look over there."

"That's... strange." Said Valerie. "Is that an... empty timestream?"

"What?" Said Arthur. That sounded bad... but didn't make sense.

"It's a timestream we could follow alright, just like this one that's going to take us to BaboonKaboom, but it's... blank." Said Blaze. "A timestream should never be blank."

"Maybe it's a timeline where everything's destroyed?" Suggested Ember.

"Let's hope not. These timelines all represent things that either are happening or could happen."

Valerie narrowed her eyes for a moment. "Stop! Stop the wolf!"

GS-Treble scraped to a halt, giant claws gouging out chunks of the floor. Blaze skidded down his face, landing on her feet. "WHAT IS IT?"

"There... that haze, there... it's a rift forming. We're about to be attacked!" Valerie pointed at a patch of air.

Blaze squinted. "Wow there, hawkeye. Should we flip this on its head? Ambush them?"

"Yeah, let's." Valerie replaced herself with Valor.

"Cross fusion!" Shouted Lan, and MegaMan seemed to dissolve into blocks of data for a moment, before reappearing around him as armor.

"Hey, Lan, how do I do that?" Said Blaze.

"Just get into Full Synchro, and then you'll both be able to engage your cross-fusion at will!" Said MegaManR.

"Okay... Full Synchro on demand... How?" Said Ember.

There was a ripping sound, and a pair of rifts appeared. One was surrounded completely, the other twenty metres away, unseen. "Too late." Arthur jumped down from Treble, cloak covering him. "Treble, quick, the other rift!"

Two navis jumped out, one from each rift. Arthur recognised them. There was VoodooMan, and BitByte. BitByte had jumped out into the trap. "MAN, YOU HAVE THE WORST LUCK." Commented Treble.

"Prahahah. The spirits smile upon me, though." Said VoodooMan, as zombie-like navis started crawling form the floor immediately, in a giant circle. It was a strange setout for the fight- BitByte surrounded by Blaze's team, and them surrounded by VoodooMan's forces.

"Challenge accepted!" Smiled Blaze. "Cross Fusion!"

For a split second, everyone looked at Blaze. Nothing happened.

"Full synchro, remember." Deadpanned Ember.

Bit-Byte actually had the initiative to take advantage of the moment of confusion, and raised his cannon, firing a bolt of golden energy. Treble had been watching, and blocked with a giant foreleg. And then the fight started. Arthur flipped his PET into his hand, and looked around quickly, scanning for danger. The zombie navis were rushing in as Valor engaged Bit-Byte. This was bad. Really bad. Both he and Blaze were vulnerable, and Treble and Ember couldn't possibly hope to cover the full circle around them. How to do this?! He had three seconds at most to think of an answer.

One. _I'll use Treble's breath to clear an opening._

Two. _I'll get Blaze out, hopefully._ "AquaNeedle, in! Convert!"

Three. _Pray they don't have the manouverability to get around Ember and Treble._

"Make a hole in their lines!" Commanded Arthur.

Treble didn't hesistate to blast the earth with a deluge of aqua-flames, the zombies that touched them disintegrating like sandcastles.

"Blaze, quick, through the hole!" Arthur ran for the gap, hoping Blaze had heard.

"Not so fast... SpiderShot!" VoodooMan was in the way of Arthur's exit route. _Treble must have thought I was planning to attack this guy..._ he raised a weapon that looked like some kind of thick, dead tree branch, and for a second Arthur worried he was going to get blasted by some kind of silk netting. In fact, a cluster of spiders was fired in his general direction. He threw himself to the side, crashing to the floor but thank whatever divine entity had mercy, the spiders missed. Anything was better than spiders.

Ember soared past, again using SolCross, and bringing her shining sword down in a mighty overhead strike. VoodooMan stepped back, and summoned a pair of zombies to attack, as Treble rushed in and took out one Arthur got to his feet. Blaze was nearly cornered, but then she seemed to become eerily calm, slotting in a chip. "Normal mode- Counter!" She commanded.

Ember twisted as VoodooMan used the SpiderShot again, and palmed her sword before appearing to swing it in an intentional miss. Then the cross disappeared, and her arm blade returned, the elbow striking VoodooMan in the nick of time. " **CrossFusion!** "

Ember disappeared, and Blaze hovered for a second as data coalesced around her. The transformation seemed to give a moment of safety, and a blast of air knocked back the encroaching zombies as armour flew onto Blaze's body. Her steel hairpin slid out, and expanded into a face mask, atop her head. She touched down, radiant with confidence. As if she'd been training all her life, she swung and jabbed with her arms, a flurry of strikes no normal human should have been able to pull off. The four nearest zombies fell to the ground and dissolved.

Arthur looked to VoodooMan as MegaMan got in close. MegaMan had five chips- Arthur was sure of that. " **We can't delete him with our current chips. Get ready, Blaze, Ember!"**

EmberR's fighting was scary, and better than a human should have been. But MegaMan was something else. Arthur watched as he cast CornShot, flawlessly transitioned into AssassinSword, pitched a FlashBomb, dodge-rolled out of the way of the SpiderShot, summoned a Sanctuary below himself, and finally threw a hand down and brought a JusticeOne with it. Arthur didn't want to even think about the codes on his chips. EmberR shot in like a bullet, blades at the ready.

" **I'll melt you down!** " EmberR's first swing missed, and VoodooMan summoned more zombies- this time EmberR used a chip, and drew a pair of Kunai blades, spinning them around with a 'thwip'.

"FrogWave!" Countered VoodooMan, throwing his arms up. As implied, a wave of frogs suddenly hopped up from the floor at face height, one splattering on EmberR's mask. Blaze didn't recoil in the slightest, even if Arthur felt just a tad sick. Blaze hacked with her blades, and a blast of flame knocked VoodooMan back before her jets fired, and she skirted behind him, expertly grinding on her skates.

" **FireHit!"** EmberR's fist glowed and burst into flames, before she drove it into VoodooMan's back with the force required to lift him straight off the floor. He landed on his feet, facing her and blasted the SpiderShot again- not done yet. They hit Ember straight-on, but her synchro didn't break. She skated forwards, and got up close and personal- not so much as a inch to dodge her strikes. VoodooMan's health was dwindling fast, as another pair of zombies went to attack Ember. This time she didn't have MoonBlade to answer, backing off and drawing a buster.

Arthur briefly came to his senses, realising he was still in combat and Treble and MegaMan were doing all they could to protect him. One zombie was getting a bit too close for comfort, and he put his fists up. These guys weren't so tough. If he could just time his attack correctly... Then another one blindsided him. Arthur's impulse response was to backhand it, and it staggered back in time for the other one to lunge. Arthur ducked, and tried to skirt back, tripping over his cloak. No wonder Bass floated everywhere. He put his arms in front of him, and then a giant claw flattened the nearest one, before swiping into the other. "I GOT YOU, I GOT YOU!"

Arthur took a second and got his bearings. EmberR was doing fine, MegaMan was mopping up the nightmare police that had come through with Bit-Byte, and Valor... seemed to be doing okay. Everything was going okay!

"Treble, let's try and end this. Switch back, I'll send HeroSword and Gregar!"

Treble shrunk, standing ready in front of Arthur. Arthur clicked in the chips, along with the UnifyCode, and Treble charged. Two bosses- he might not finish them, but he could seal their fates. With wicked speed, he closed in on VoodooMan, forming an impromptu pincer formation with Ember, and he drew the HeroSword and swung it through a low curve as he dashed, bringing it up and through VoodooMan just as EmberR jumped and performed some kind of combat dab, cutting with the blades on each arm at once in a straight line, forming an X with Treble's cut.

Treble kept sprinting as the sword dissolved, and EmberR looped with him, as they both charged at Valor and Bit-Byte. Some nightmare police and zombies were closing in on Valor, threatening to surround her and making it impossible to dodge, her thick armor keeping her safe. And Gregar appeared next to the charging two, all three attacking the underlings together. Red, Grey and Green flashed, blowing the underlings away and knocking Bit-Byte's guard aside.

"ElementBreath!" Arthur slammed in the personal chip.

" **Spectral Scream!** "

EmberR cast FireBurn. MegaMan used his buster. Bit-Byte went flying back, disappearing mid-air, and leaving the charm to plink to the ground. They turned to see VoodooMan kneeling, defeated.

"Y-you... Doctor Ooluzu... will not let you disturb the balance of the world by defeating me! I'll restore the future to the way it should be, just you wait!"

EmberR rolled up her mask. "Is the way it should be just co-incidentally extremely good for you? While creating a time paradox for the rest of us?"

"Prr...ahaha... ha..." VoodooMan disappeared.

Valor rolled her eyes. "And for a second I thought he had a noble goal."

EmberR was replaced by Blaze and Ember. "Whew.. haah... that was something, huh?" Said Ember.

Blaze started furiously brushing at her top. "GROSS! Gross gross gross! He hit me with the spider gun! Ew!" Her hairpin clattered to the floor, distracting her for a moment as she scooped it up and haphazardly stuck it back in her hair.

"Your CrossFusion is an amazing technique." Said Arthur to Lan, as he too turned back.

"Aw, thanks! It's a shame I won't be able to use it once I'm back home. It's fun being my brother!" Said Lan.

"...Hmm. So, he's got the same motivations as Bit-Byte claims to have." Said Valerie. "To change the future for the better."

"Yes, it looks like that really is the goal of this group." Agreed Ember.

"Well, it's a nice goal..." Blaze shrugged. "Just... not a possible one. Why are they so sure they can alter time? And what does the Guardian of Mu have to do with it?"

"Beats me." Said Chroma, becoming visible of his own will for once. "Anyway. Maybe this gives us some hint as to how we can talk down BaboonKaboom."

"If they're all like this... then maybe." Said Blaze. "Let's hope we can get him to talk, hey?"

"Yeah. So, let's just get to the next place and then rest." Said Valerie. "Go on, gran. Lead the way."

* * *

They set down to rest, as Arthur passed out food, rationing carefully. The instant noodles were kind of smashed up where he'd dived on them, but were still edible dry, with a bit of water. Arthur's face screwed up as he took a lick of the powder. Edible did not mean enjoyable.

"So, why do we have the same attack, anyway?" Said Treble to Valerie.

"Huh? You mean Spectral Scream? No, mine changes element. No escaping my fire." Said Valerie.

"Erm... so does mine. And they've got the same range, too..."

'Well, we're not related.' Echoed Chroma. '...I hope.'

"That'd be something. Especially since that would mean you're descended from Flare as well." Said Arthur. "Although I question the possibility of Treble having a 'child'. His structure is so unique."

"Eh, that's a quitter attitude. But, um... well, we weren't really going to. I mean, we're okay with each other! And our kid might... I dunno, break the net." Treble was suddenly sheepish.

Arthur just chuckled softly. "Good to know you're being responsible."

"Got it from you. Anyway."

Arthur laid back, waiting for the uber-strong flavor to leave his mouth.

"Hey, do you think you're my grandfather? I can see you marrying Blaze. You're good to her." Said Valerie, out of nowhere.

Blaze choked on her dry noodles. "Val!? No!"

Arthur considered it for a second. "...Don't think so. We're not each other's types. It's possible to be friends without it progressing to a marriage- And I can be nice to people just to be nice, not to try and woo them."

"Um- what he said." Said Blaze, wiping the corner of her mouth. "Although I'll invite him to the wedding. After all, I know I have one thanks to you."

"Don't start planning the wedding before you've even met your guy." Groaned Ember. "That's literally the biggest case of going too fast in a relationship that's even possible."

"Gotta go fast. It's a busy world out there!" Grinned Blaze at the silliness.

* * *

"So, what else can we work out about The Save, now?" Mused Arthur, as they travelled. "That Voodoo navi mentioned someone, didn't he?"

Chroma became visible. "Ooluzu. Doctor Ooluzu."

"Do you think he's behind this?" Said Valerie.

"More likely he's the netop, with a crazy voodoo name like that." Said Blaze.

"THEIR ORGANISATION LOOKS PRETTY SMALL. HE COULD STILL BE THE BOSS."

"Hmm... What I'm curious about is their final motive. Thier... endgame." Said Arthur. "They claim they're trying to make a perfect future, but they haven't done anything to claim they won't just make a paradox."

"Yeah. And I know that we don't know what'll happen for sure if the future changes, but surely anyone should be wary enough of a paradox." Said Valerie.

"I've met a few people who'd do anything to reach their goals." Lan sounded confident. "Especially when they get desperate. Blaze, remember those guys that jumped down the trash chute to try and get out of being arrested? At the pavilion?"

"...Yes, actually." Blaze frowned, then smiled wryly. "Prosecutor Ito smelled so bad. The guy that pulled him out got a week off."

"You're forgetting Blackbeard, he tried to deny he was even involved at his trial!" MegaMan shook his head. "Well, the point is that people can sometimes just... not be very sensible. Some people do that all the time. But... as long as they're willing to listen, you can always try and make them see things as you do."

"Of course, you might be the dumb one sometimes- which sucks, but it's not the end of the world. I nearly poisoned a bunch of people once." Said Lan. "But yeah- let's see what happens if we talk."

"Noted. You might be younger than me, but you're... somehow wiser. Hm." Observed Arthur. "And... poisoned? How?"

"Oh, it was this time at the water works... I've got loads of stories actually, if you want to listen!" Beamed Lan.

"I'd be honoured to." Replied Arthur.

"HEY, HEY, TELL HIM THE ONE WHERE YOU DELETED ME! THAT ONE WAS PROBABLY WAY BETTER FOR YOU!"

MegaMan actually made a little pixel sweatdrop appear on his brow. "Um... well, is that really in good taste..?"

"Maybe let him choose. I'd feel kind of awkward telling someone how I deleted them." Said Ember.

"I'll start at the beginning- this one time, just when I'd gotten MegaMan, this guy called Mr. Match set our oven on fire..."

 **Author's notes: Short chapter, but I don't think I can put more without screwing up the pacing. Sorry for the delays, I've had a fairly tough week. I don't regret it, but I'd prefer them a bit gentler. I'm learning to assemble aircraft, and while I love my job it can get sore on the fingers if you need to operate pliers for seven hours straight... two days in a row. Really puts a damper on the writing spirit. If the next update's a few days late, don't panic, I'm just trying to scrounge up the stamina.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **JaneValentine007: Read the whole thing over the period of a month about halfway through 2017. I'm a latecomer to the party. But Nepeta's hat! Cute! I won't go to Zero with this story- too different in themes.**

 **TyrantChimera: Yet ZX is somehow even more BS, especially with Prometheus and Pandora- and model O.**


	58. Chapter 58: Blast

"HOW'S FLARE DOING, BLAZE?"

"As far as I can tell... good? She's... I can't quite make it out... she's talking to someone. Not wearing her Iris disguise, but Beyondard's a pretty dangerous world so maybe that's just caution. Doesn't look like she's threatened."

"That's good, right? Flare wouldn't let her guard down without good reason." Said Arthur.

Valerie frowned. "She could be captured. Or trying to-" Arthur locked onto Valerie with his best stern glare.

"Please don't." He whispered.

"Sorry."

"Hey Arthur, can I have Zero's walkie-talkie?" Called Ember. "I want to check up on SteamMan."

"Sure thing." Arthur pulled the red orb out of his pocket and passed it to Ember.

"Zero? It's me. How are you doing?"

The camera remained silent.

"Zero? Hello?"

"...Why isn't he answering?" Said Arthur. "I hope he's okay."

"IS THE CAMERA STILL WORKING?"

"You don't think... that Pantheon..." Started Valerie.

"No." Said Blaze. "He can't beat them, right? There's no way!"

Arthur thought. "...What about Bass? He doesn't seem to be on anyone's side."

"...I could change our course, to try and find them." Said Blaze. "But this might give The Save more time to do whatever they're trying to do... Or some kind of opportunity I don't want them to have. I... that's my brother's navi. Can I really..."

"Hey, we chose you as leader, we'll follow your commands." Said Valerie.

Blaze gritted her teeth. "...Ember, what would you say? I... I don't want to have to weigh a chance to make sure SteamMan against a chance to protect time!"

Ember looked straight ahead. "I have faith in SteamMan and ProtoMan to overcome anything this place throws at them. Zero too. Let's press on."

"...Okay! If you can trust them, then so can I. Let's go- there's not a second to waste!" Commanded Blaze.

"I CAN ACTUALLY RUN FASTER. ARE YOU SERIOUS? BECAUSE, YOU MIGHT BE SICK."

Blaze pointed forwards. "Everyone, hang on tight! Treble, full steam ahead in three... Two... One!"

Arthur grabbed the back of the frill, as Ember and Blaze grabbed the ears, and Lan and MegaMan grabbed Arthur, and Valerie panicked for a second and just hugged the back that was below her before Treble picked up speed.

Arthur suddenly understood why travelling like this was one of the few things ArsenalMan had ever had a problem with. Because once Treble got going, it was like being on some kind of carnival ride, but with a significantly higher chance of dying.

Blaze was seeming handling it pretty well, and looked like she was possibly enjoying it from the steady stance she had when Arthur caught glimpses of her. Arthur felt like his arms were going to be pulled off thanks to Lan grabbing him, but three months of exercise had done enough for his physical strength to keep him mounted. And then there was Valerie at the back, who... somehow seemed to be handling it better than everyone, remaining firmly clamped down despite having nowhere to grip, and nothing to grip with apart from her arms and legs.

"SLOOOOW DOOOWN!" She screamed. Or maybe not.

"Treble, slow it down a bit!" Relayed Arthur.

Treble slowed down the barest amount, but Arthur didn't feel like he was having his arms worked off anymore. Now he was just trying not to succumb to motion sickness.

"THIS ENOUGH?"

"Bit... more?!"

Treble went down to a much more manageable pace.

"Too close..." Breathed Valerie. "I nearly lost my grip, Blaze! Careful what you order!"

"Are you okay?" Blaze looked back.

"Ugh... I'll be fine."

"Augh... don't think I'll be sick, but let's try not to go that fast again if it's not an emergency." Said Arthur.

"It wasn't that bad!" Cheered Lan. "We've done worse, right Blaze?"

"I...actually enjoyed it. You could make a sport out of this!" Said Blaze.

"Let's just... arrive alive, ok?" Said Arthur.

* * *

They kept on for just a short while, before Treble slowed and then stopped. "GUYS..."

"What is it... Oh. Hi there!" Blaze jumped down. Arthur stood up carefully, and saw... someone. He dismounted, and walked around.

Someone was standing there, in a hi-vis jacket and wearing a hardhat.

"Someone you know, Blaze?"

"Nope. What's your name?" Asked Blaze, walking up.

Arthur got a proper look at them. They seemed kind of dishevelled, with stubble and a shirt that might have seen better days. But aside from that they seemed strong and... well, strong. Not muscly, just if you punched him you'd break your own hand. That sort of strong.

"Name's Derby. I've been waiting for you."

Arthur recognised the name. Did Blaze?

"Ah, you're one of The Save's. Here to try and capture us, are you?" Accused Blaze.

Derby shifted. "Well... not personally. Look, in a few seconds I'm gonna get hit by a-"

Arthur was aware of something thrown at them, and guard instincts kicked in. "Get down!" He grabbed Blaze's arm and yanked her to the floor, just as a blast from the MegaBuster whizzed through the air. There was an explosion.

Valor landed in front of them, as Treble ran up their side in normal form. Arthur got to his feet, seeing the ambushing force. Plenty more mass-produced navis, viruses abound, and leading the charge... BaboonKaboom himself.

"Oh, just who we were looking for." Arthur deadpanned.

There was an uneasy moment as the attacking force just gathered, unwilling to charge thanks to MageMan and Valor both being poised to attack. Blaze took her PET.

"We can take them on!" Assured MegaManR.

"Yeah!" Said Blaze.

Arthur looked to where Derby had been standing. He was lying on the floor, but there were no signs of any serious injuries... "Treble, try and keep them back from me. I need to check that..." _That he's not faking it. That it's not a clever trap to attack from behind_. "...He's okay."

The battle started jarringly as BaboonKaboom took out another bomb and lobbed it. With near-mechanical precision MegaManR shot it down, just like the first one. Arthur held onto the cloak he'd been wearing for the past half-day as the explosion's force blew against him, and went over to Derby.

Breathing? Check.

Pulse? Accelerated, but this guy just had a bomb go off next to him.

Arthur rolled Derby over. One of his sleeves had singed, and his arm was a little red, but it wasn't a bad burn. "Hey. You awake?"

Unconscious. Arthur looked at the battle, Valor holding a highly effective frontline while... hm, she was blue now? Then she used some kind of aqua attack, to Arthur's surprise. Blaze had switched to EmberR, and Treble was poking around the outskirts of the fight. But even at a glance Arthur could tell one terrifying thing: The enemy were competent.

From Arthur's relatively safe spot he could tell they were outnumbered and the enemy were in a decent formation, keeping navis armed with blasters behind ones with swords, and they were gradually spreading out to try and encircle everyone. It was easier to try and strategise when you had a minute to think. An unrelated thought occurred to Arthur- he should discuss battle tactics with everyone if they got the chance.

Okay, time to fight. Arthur realised he was the only one in position to try and give commands, and without a plan then this fight was just stacked wayyy against them. Even if the enemy quite possibly would be literally incapable of deleting Treble when transformed, since then he only had one weak point, that protection didn't extend to the rest of them.

"Treble, Ember, we can't let them circle us! Treble, stop them coming around the left! Ember, right!" Commanded Arthur. They got the message, dashing around to intercept the navis that were trying to move around. "Valor, do everything you can to wall them off!"

She dodged a bomb-blast, and Arthur saw MegaMan firing. "MegaMan, bosses are your specialty!" He grabbed his PET. He might be the only operator in danger, but he was also the only one who had a full 30 chips to use. Anything to clear out these navis. FireBurns would be a good start, UnifyCode and BugAura and Treble wouldn't need to be too careful.

The battle went on for a long 10 seconds and Arthur realised they were in even more trouble than he'd realised. His chips were set up to duel navis in one-on-one. Treble's passive skills were for prolonged fights against one enemy. And already, enemies were threatening to slip through the makeshift defensive line.

"Treble, swap with Valor and transform, we'll try using Junk Flyer! Valor, do what you can for the left!"

The swap was surprisingly graceful, Treble sprinted without hesitation, switching from a speedster to a tank halfway through, while Valor seemed to have another trick up her sleeve Arthur had actually forgotten: She jumped off the floor, and spread a pair of... wings was the only appropriate description, they were made of some kind of glowing blue energy that patterned itself into alien circles and lines. She used her breath weapon, and apparently she'd boosted that too, the Spectral Scream running along the floor in a large blue barrier, catching out a few opportunistic enemies. Then they folded back in,and she dropped down, trying to ward back anything that went for her. Ember had set up LavaStage and was holding her own.

"Wind chip in, accelerate JunkFlyer!"

The random chunks of scrap data that appeared besides Treble started flowing forwards in a stream, forming a much more effective barrier Arthur had first expected. But the accelerated attack wouldn't last long, and Arthur only carried one NorthWind. This was only a temporary answer. Arthur flicked through his Giga chips- they were his only hope now. CB-Flare? It had an area of effect, but it wasn't that wide... FolderBack? No, not enough. BugRiseSword might be able to clear these guys out quickly, but HP drain on top of this, and needing normal form? No. BugCharge would be absolutely useless here. And that left...

"Forgive me, Ethan. Bass chip, WhiteCapsule in." Arthur knew what it did. He'd seen Lan use it, and he'd fought Bass more than was fair.

A copy of Bass appeared, floating into the air. BaboonKaboom uselessly lobbed a bomb up at it, but it was useless. Bass opened fire, and if you've played the games, you know that means anything with less than 500 health is beyond dead. The attack still wasn't wide enough to wipe out the entire enemy force, but a huge chunk, BaboonKaboom included, were blasted. It wasn't enough to take down the boss, but it swung the battle hard.

"You dirty punks! I ain't done yet!"

Valor took out a card that was different to her normal ones. "Surrender!" She shouted.

"Nevah!"

She pointed forwards. "Prepare yourself!" She sucked a card into her mouth. "CrossSword!"

"Yaaah!" EmberR charged, and jumped into a flying knee jab.

"Blast shield!" BaboonKaboom gritted, preparing for the impact. CrossSword hit first, a large explosion countering it's damage, and the force damping Ember's speed to the point BaboonKaboom was just able to stop her, catching the kick in his hands and throwing her back.

"Now! AreaSteal, finish him!" Arthur clicked in the chip.

"Uh-uh! Badda bing, Badda boom, you. Are. Doomed!" BaboonKaboom hefted a giant bomb, and threw it at the exact moment Treble warped behind him with AreaSteal- leaving Arthur exposed.

 _I'm going to die. I'm not a navi and I don't have a forcefield. I'm-_

BOOM.

Arthur's ears felt like they'd been slammed with meat tenderisers, ringing like bells. His vision was hazy, and after a few dazed seconds he realised. He wasn't dead. He looked up, and decided he was seeing things, because that was very clearly BaboonKaboom standing in front of him.

"Idjit! Darby!" Called the second BaboonKaboom. The other one seemed to have frozen up seeing themself, looking up from the floor Treble had smashed them down into face-first. BaboonKaboom2 grunted. "Darby Rilling, why in tarnation did you try to put yourself on ice!?"

"Whu- wha... arrrgh... geroff! My escape charm! Ya... theiving..." Wheezed BaboonKaboom, pressed harder into the floor.

"ARTHUR! ARTHUR!" Shouted Treble.

"I'm okay. You saved my life, uh..." Arthur looked up.

"Yeah, yeah..." BaboonKaboom's EM form suddenly disappeared, leaving the man in the construction jacket- now burned on his front. He coughed. "Look, Scorpio sent you to go off yourself. Go check your locker. Give the sorry idjit the charm, Valor."

"What's... going on?" Said Valor. "Explain, first."

"That there is me from the past." Pointed Derby. "I'm just gonna go through things in the order they happen to ya, Darby. ScorpioSand gives you the job to kill the traitor. You come here and get turned into dog chow. Then you go back, check ya locker, and it's got a copy of Scorpio's masterplan in it. Then ya get chased down and escape to here, and wait for this to go down. Got it? Now I got some explaining of my own to do."

Arthur got up, seeing EmberR, MegaManR and Valor still wary, but not attacking. Valor was holding an escape charm in one hand.

Derby turned to the group. "I ain't one for sob stories, but I'll be honest- all of us Save members are here cause we got things we wanna change at any cost. I... well, if it weren't fer the fact I now know I got duped, I'd still be willing to try risking the world, yada-dada. ScorpioSand promised to rewrite our mistakes once we captured ya, Guardian."

"Can you tell us how to stop him?" Said EmberR.

"Nope. Anyway, I dunno what yer gonna do now. 'Cause I..." He coughed, and then collapsed.

"Derby!" Arthur couldn't stop him crashing to the floor. And at the same moment, Valor moved to help, charm slipping from her hands. BaboonKaboom lunged, and clapped a hand onto it, vanishing.

"No! He got away!" Ember shouted.

Arthur checked Derby again. "...He's alive, but he needs medical attention. From a proper hospital. Honestly, it seems he was incredibly lucky to survive that blast..."

Derby forced his eyes open. "Dang, hoped I was done."

EmberR split back to Blaze. "...Sorry we can't help you..."

"Meh. I... uh... don' have much use for my life." Grumbled Derby.

"Don't say that!" Said Lan. "There must be something we can do, right guys?"

Arthur could only look. "...You need to be sent back to a city in the real world. But that would mess up the timestream... And even then I don't know how."

Ember frowned. "...What mistake did you want to fix?"

"Old colleague. Was a demolition worker like me. Gave me the will to live, but... died 'cause I slipped and set off a blast early. That's all."

"...Guys... I don't want to give false hope, but..." MegaMan looked forward. "It would be safe to send him back to reality. The events here happened exactly as you remember, right?"

"...Yeah?"

"Then time... time is a fixed series of events." Said MegaMan. "A timeline can't be changed, even if different ones exist they're separate entirely. Nothing we do can change the future of our exact timeline... so that means he could live if we got him out!"

"But that... what if he's lying?" Said Valor. "To trick us into messing up time?"

"I think he's telling the truth." Said Blaze. "Otherwise how would he know exactly where to wait, and to get in front of Arthur even when Treble warped so suddenly? And... maybe I can get you out. No promises, okay... I've never done this." She took her PET. "Ember... force a logout on him. That's my only idea. Getting to a hospital is on you."

"...And please, see a therapist, they'll help you out." Encouraged Lan. "People will be friends with you- I know it."

"Heck, you already have one friend in your Wizard. And he wants you to live." Said Valerie. "Now go. You can't stay here and just wait around while you're dying."

Derby nodded. "...Fine. I'll try living. Guess you're right, wiz."

"If this works, you'll appear where you entered. Here goes..." Ember gently touched his chest. To Arthur's surprise, Derby disappeared.

"It... worked?" Said Blaze.

"It worked." Confirmed Ember.

"I hope he'll be okay." Said Arthur.

"Yeah- Are YOU okay?!" Said Treble, kneeling down at Arthur's height.

"I'll be fine. Ears are a bit sore from the blast."

"We... we could all use a rest." Said Blaze. "Let's move a space and make camp, then try and break down all this information. Cool?"

"...Cool." Agreed Valerie.

* * *

"So then... The Save is convincing its members to fight for it with the promise of changes in their futures. And that's a lie." Said MegaMan, editing a text document. "Anything else I should add to our notes?"

"Nope, just run through them. I wouldn't want to forget anything!" Said Lan.

"Okay... The Save are looking for the Guardian of Mu, to let them control time at will. They don't have that many members, but their leader seems to be called ScorpioSand, who recruited the other members- BaboonKaboom, who's now left this place, TunnelMole, DynamoComet and BeautyButterfly as wave changers, and VoodooMan, Bit-Byte, and Bass as Navis... But Bass seems to have turned on them."

"Don't forget what you worked out about time itself earlier." Reminded Blaze. "It changes everything."

"Yeah. So each timeline exists as a fixed stream, and nothing can change what happens in it. So paradoxes just aren't possible. Other timelines exist where the alternate stuff happens by the looks of things, but each timeline is fixed. And that means it's safe to just throw people out without destroying the future. We can do that by forcing a logout."

"So that's our plan? Log out each member of The Save?" Said Treble. "Simple enough!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Said Chroma. "These fights are tough for all of us, especially the rest of you, since you're limited to five of your chips. Overconfidence isn't going to help you."

"This all makes me wonder what their real goal is, then." Questioned Valerie. "If the timelines can't be changed... then why even try? They would probably have discovered that pretty soon, right?"

"And that blank timeline we saw the other day..." Mused Blaze. "I don't like that. Not one bit."

"Hey, don't forget Flare and Gregar and Ethan, they all need to get out of Beyondard." Reminded Treble. "If only we could work out how..."

"Want an update on them?" Offered Valerie. "Right now, Ethan's asleep. He's actually got a real blanket and a bed. Seems like his situation is looking up."

"There's a relief!" Arthur smiled. "And now that we don't need to worry about paradoxes, then we can try a lot more stuff for getting him out."

"Yeah. I have some ideas, but I don't know how to try them..." Said Blaze. "You remember Chip? The NetGaia system? What if we tried opening a link for Ethan?"

"Could work. But he needs a connector."

"Yeah. Otherwise then maybe... we could try going and hunting down Bass, and claiming the program he used to send Ethan there." Suggested Blaze. "Val, any ideas of your own?"

"Hmm. Can your... 'Zero' contact him?"

"I dunno. Pass me the camera." Asked Blaze. Arthur gave her the orb.

"I thought it was broken?" Said Lan.

There was no response from the orb. "But... it shouldn't be breakable, should it?" Said MegaMan. "Unless Zero..."

Blaze gave the orb a shake. "SteamMan..."

"There must be some way to check on them..." Said Arthur.

"...I can't think of one. We can only hope they're alright." Admitted Ember. "Unless you can just... magic it, Treble?"

"I don't have that level of power. It can do anything, but it has limits." Treble made a little arc of purple energy between his index fingers.

"...Let's just rest. Tomorrow we'll go after another one of The Save's members, and hopefully we'll find out more about them." Decided Blaze. "Ember, you're still okay being the watchperson?"

"I don't mind doing it for a change! She seems pretty tired, after all." Offered Treble. Ember had taken a moderate amount of damage in the fight but was still standing strong.

"...Very well. Just for two hours, you hear?" Said Ember. "I'm not resting any more than needed while there's something like this to do!"

* * *

An hour passed. The area they'd set up a camp in was a woodland of some kind. Everyone was asleep.

"Weird to think we were fighting so hard just a while ago." Said Treble to himself. "It feels so... different to the net."

"Really? I can hardly see the difference." Said Chroma unexpectedly.

Treble looked at him. "What? But here, well, normally when I fight I just have to beat up the enemy- that's all."

"Battle is still the same at its core, though. And you seem to enjoy it."

"Yeah... but..." Treble sighed. "Well, I'm having trouble really getting into it these last few fights. I love fighting, even when I get hurt, but... well, I don't want to lose Arthur."

"I understand, a little at least. Our cultures are different."

"I just, well, I think the very best battles are the ones that don't have to mean anything. Battle for fun, you get punched in the face, you scratch up their chest, then you can both be fully healed in a minute and go again. That's fun. But..."

"But it would kill your operator."

"Yeah, basically. I guess it's not for long. But then today, I nearly failed... What if Derby didn't get in front of Arthur?"

"He'd die. And I can understand the worry."

"I just... well, I'm worried. Really. Especially since if I used crossfusion to try and protect him it would bug him. I feel powerless. Especially... after I failed to save Flare."

"..." Chroma shrugged. "She was important to you? I don't understand your relationships."

"We were... no, we ARE lovers. Aside from Arthur, there's nobody more important to me. Nobody at all. It happened so unexpectedly that I couldn't stop it... But I keep wondering if things could have been different."

"Yet now we know they couldn't have been different- that's the nature of time. It makes me wonder... if there was any point to some of my own unsuccessful struggles."

"Huh? But that doesn't make any sense to me. You failed at something, right?"

"Many things. We all have, no? I just wonder if since the future is set in stone, it is even worth trying to change it."

"I... I'm not great at this, but I'm pretty sure that even if the future is already decided... since we don't know what it is, then things aren't any different for us, right?"

"...I'm not sure I understand."

"Well, when you get back home, what happens?"

"...I don't know."

"See! So you'll try and make the things that happen good things, right?"

"Yes."

"So it's worth putting in effort to shape the future. At least, that's how I understood it." Treble rubbed the back of his head.

"...Yes. I see..." Chroma placed a hand on their chin in thought, and faded into invisibility.

* * *

After Blaze woke, the Zero Camera started rattling. "Uh? Wha..." She yawned, and grabbed it. "Hello?"

"...This is Pantheon speaking."

Blaze shot up. "You!"

"I offer you only a warning- be prepared. A foe hunts you." There was a click.

Lan rubbed his eyes. "I heard that right, didn't I?"

Blaze stared at the camera. "Vague idiot..."

"What's he done with Zero?!" Said Treble.

"Noone could hack his system. So... did Zero willingly take that message?" Said MegaMan.

"Seems very Pantheon-like." Said Valerie, her tone of voice suggesting she'd dealt with this before. "Let's just hope he stays out of our way."

"But... SteamMan! I can't just leave my brother's Navi to deal with Aegis!" Said Blaze.

"...If we really need to, then we can go after him. But it will take time, and it might give The Save a chance to ambush us. Your call." Said Arthur.

"My call, huh..." Blaze looked troubled. "Could we split up?"

"That's a bad idea!" Said Arthur. "They want us divided, it would be way easier to pick someone off."

"...Yeah. Lan, do you have an idea?" Said Blaze hopefully.

"Err... what if we like..."

"I think I know." Said MegaMan. "Let's try and get Pantheon to take out some of our enemies. He's not our friend, but he doesn't like The Save either right? Maybe if we convince The Save to go after SteamMan and Zero, then Pantheon can deal with some of their members?"

"He might kill them though." Said Valerie. "And... Well, to be honest, I have sympathy for them. The Save could probably have tricked me into joining them too if they'd offered to bring back my mom."

"...Then..." Blaze gripped her head. "Augh, this is a hard choice! What can I do?!"

A few moments passed.

"...Don't worry about upsetting us. We'll still follow you." Said Valerie.

"Am I even worthy of leading? I can't make one choice!" Said Blaze.

Ember walked over. "...Let's just go after the next member of The Save- I still believe in SteamMan. And anyway, we both know what he'd say if he were here right now."

"He'd just gently scold me, and say that you need to worry about the rest of the world before we worry about him, like in that one liberation mission. Okay... I'll have faith in him." Blaze nodded. "Everyone, are you ready to move out?"

"Yes. Lead on, Blaze!" Said Lan with a bright smile. Arthur could only feel boosted at the young teen's sunny energy.

 **Author's notes: So the sheet of notes MegaMan is keeping is my way of making sure anyone can follow whats going on. I know time-travel stories can get really confusing if you miss even a tiny detail, after all.**

 **Left little finger is now basically dead. Rip me.  
**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: Especially now you know my nature of time... To explain my 'ZX has more bullshit' comment, it's mostly about the insane level of blackmail Master Albert pulls off, it's pretty dark and personally I always hated blackmail so, so bad. One of my dubiously proudest childhood moments was when someone tried to blackmail me and I outright just shouted the knowledge out over the playground as loud as I could. I did become the weird kid for a week, but I enjoyed avoiding a personal hate a lot so it was worth it. But yeah, most character seem to be at the pinnacle of their power around the series named after them, for some reason... hmm. Bass is absolutely referenced as Cyberworld's god of destruction in BN6, it's on his tombstone in UnderNet Zero. He's (probably) only referred to as Bass Omega since Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, but... well, he's certainly worthy of the parallel with Omega Zero.**


	59. Chapter 59: Insight

"Hey, Blaze, who are we going after now?" Asked Ember.

"I... I dunno, actually." Admitted Blaze. "Suggestions?"

Arthur looked at the cloak he was wearing, now singed at the edges. He was starting to understand why Bass had a whole rack of the things. "...Maybe one we can keep away from me until we figure something out for that. What happened to the shield bucket, Blaze?"

"Oh, the bucket... yeah..." Blaze scratched the back of her head. "It kind of disappeared in that fight where Nobody abandoned us. We got jumped, and I dropped it, and... that was that. Never saw it again."

"Could really use it now... Meh." Arthur shrugged.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you. I'll try even harder." Said Treble.

"Who are our targets?" Asked Valerie. "TunnelMole, DynamoComet, or...?"

"BeautyButterfly." Said MegaMan. "...Hmm, who to choose?"

"Well, let's strategise." Arthur put his hands together. "First things first, what do we know about them?"

"TunnelMole is a good defender. You can't really tunnel in an EM sense, waves pass through everything but lead, but he 'digs' through space to warp around, aside from lots of rock and ground attacks. Gave Ember some real trouble." Said Blaze.

"DynamoComet's all about skill in combat, dodging and having a good accuracy- he came much closer to hitting us than most navis do. But your high speed seemed to handle him pretty well." Said Lan.

"And from what I saw of BeautyButterfly, she seems like she's got poor defences, but she could fly, so I suppose that means she's not meant for direct combat." Mused Arthur. "Long-ranged attacks, or a support role?"

"Don't forget the cheap disposable navis." Said Valerie. "They're using them to compensate for the fact we can pretty easily kick their butts in fair fights."

"Can't blame them for wanting to win." Shrugged Arthur. "Well, I don't like using the Bass chip out of respect for Ethan, but if things get bad then that'll wipe out a grouped attack."

"Don't count on it." Said Valerie. "...Overuse an attack like that and you're just begging for them to find a way around it."

"Agreed. We don't use our Giga cards unless we're sure it's going to be a really rough fight." Said Chroma.

"So..." Ember seemed to consider everything. "Well, Arthur, what are your plans? Our strategy kind of needs to avoid you getting stabbed."

"Yeah, not getting stabbed would be good." Arthur considered their resources. Treble was invaluable as someone who could swap between defence and offence, Valor was pretty great at taking anything thrown at her with minimal damage, and Ember could certainly handle the offense role. MegaMan was in a little class of his own that could do everything and attacked at range better than any of them.

"Well, I can make a barrier around you, but I can't really defend myself when I'm doing that." Offered Treble.

"...Okay, I've got a plan. Let's go after BeautyButterfly next. Here's my strategy." Arthur tried to use everything he had. "So by the looks of things, I think she's not going to have any way to escape long-range attacks. You know, no Reflectors and such. So what we can do is use MegaMan to shoot her down at range, especially if you've got anything that can boost your accuracy. Treble, your job will only be to provide me and Lan with shielding for the fight, so Lan can keep supplying chips. Ember, you're on damage control- don't worry about actually doing any damage to BeautyButterfly, just jump up, get in her face and generally make it a pain for her to do anything. Valor, she'll probably have backup, and your job is to clear them out. SpectralScream ought to be pretty good at that, and if Ember sets up LavaStage we should be able to hold the line. Ember can back you up if things get bad."

"I don't know about this." Said MegaMan. "What if the barrier goes down?"

"...Hmm... Well, I guess I could try hanging back from the fight entirely, but then I might not get the chance to..."

"Blaze, what would you say?" Valerie looked at her ancestor.

"Oh, uh..." Blaze went red. "Tactics were never my strong point..."

"Hey. Have confidence." Ember reassured.

"...I think it would be good to try and keep you away from the fight, Arthur. Is... that okay?"

"Of course. If I'm not going to be there, then that frees up Treble."

"Great. It's settled then. We'd better get moving though, time's wasting." Declared Valerie.

* * *

Arthur had somehow managed to adapt to riding after only ten or so hours of it. He'd expected learning to stay balanced would have taken weeks, and from what miniscule knowledge he had of horse riding then he recalled it was supposed to get really sore if you rode for too long. Not a problem yet, at least. Perhaps half an hour in, he took out his PET, flicking through the menus. He noted a pair of icons had appeared on the home screen. "Oh, hey Lan, look. I got a few of the achievements."

"...Neat! Standard Collector and Giga Collector."

"Yeah, not bad right?" Agreed Arthur. "...Though, I bet you've got them all."

"Hehe. Need any advice for filling out the other ones? There are five achievements, the official star, and then some space for some custom icons too, but they're not counted for stuff."

"Hmm... I don't think I'll be getting Navi Collector any time soon, since I can't even use SP chips. Then there's... Mega Collector and PA library."

"I can give you a copy of my library to make the advances easier to complete. Although good luck finding WideShot R if you're using it for SuperSpread. Do the S-T-U one instead."

"What's so special about the R code?"

MegaMan sighed awkwardly. "Noone has them. There was a factory error and they only made about a quarter as many as they needed to."

"Oh. Well, I could probably find one if I tried. I guess I wouldn't have the time right now..."

"It's okay. It'll be nice battling with you once you put together a really perfect folder!" Said Lan. "And you ought to meet Dex. He'd like to fight you too."

"...Have I heard that name before? Ah well. Thanks for the offer." Arthur felt somewhat compelled to be formal, still remembering just how big of a deal Lan was.

Time passed.

Valerie leaned forwards. "Guys, I've been thinking."

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we log you out, Arthur?" Said Valerie. "Battles are only getting more dangerous."

"..." Arthur tilted his head. "I... well, I'm surprised I didn't think of that. But no."

"No?!"

Amazingly, Arthur actually had a good justification to tell himself for refusing. "We've lost contact with the outside world. If I leave, there's no guarantee I won't be cut off from you, and that means I can't provide chips and advice. We need to find out what happened to Zero before I even consider leaving." He didn't mention he was having something of an adventure. Dangerous as it was, it was exciting.

"Alright..."

* * *

"I think we're close!" Called Blaze. "Yeah, next portal for sure."

"YAY! I WAS GETTING KIND OF BORED." Treble stopped in front of the rift.

Everyone dismounted, circling around. "So then... I suppose that means I ought to stay here for the moment." Said Arthur. "You can all prepare before heading in."

"WAIT, WHat should I do?" Treble returned to normal. "Help them out or stay and guard you?"

"...I think I'll be okay. Go help Blaze." Said Arthur.

"What? No! You stay here, we can handle this." Said Blaze.

"There's no reason I'd be in any danger here." Arthur shrugged. "It's not like the enemy could know our plan."

"...Alright." Blaze agreed. "Hmm, Ember, reckon we can go into FullSynchro before the battle starts up? And I'd better pick out some chips!"

Lan loaded up his chips. "Going for a powered-up SearchMan chip, that should do some real damage if it hits. But I'll need a bit of defence while I use DoublePoint."

"Leave that to me." Said Valerie confidently.

"Treble, you've got ElementBreath, CornShot, FireBurn, and a long VariableSword ready." Arthur put in his chips. "I'll send more as the fight goes on."

"Everyone ready?" Blaze looked around. "I'll be in synchro once the battle starts. Let's go! Back in a minute!" She jumped into the rift, and everyone followed after. Arthur got his PET ready, watching over Treble.

It was strangely calm, being alone. But at the same time, it made Arthur a little nervous. He felt exposed. He cast aside those worries and focused on the PET. Treble and the others were walking up to a waiting BeautyButterfly, and he could hear them talking.

"Ah, the paupers have arrived at last."

"If you're trying to convince us to join you, then don't open with an insult." Chastised Valor.

"Tsk." Said Butterfly. "You'll know your place in the world soon enough. If there's one thing life's taught me, money is everything. It can open any door! Buy any loyalty! So please, name your price, O guardian of Mu."

"...Yuck." Said Blaze. "Let me guess, you joined these guys as some kind of moneymaking scheme?"

"Now now. Come on, a million zenny? A billion? A trillion? I'm the richest woman to have EVER lived, I could buy you a whole continent if that's what you want!"

"Okay, let me just get this straight with you." Blaze had her special face on for when she was about to destroy someone in an argument. "You want someone to work for you in such a manner that could quite possibly destroy the whole universe, and you'd offer them one measly continent? And even so, money doesn't buy happiness."

"That's a ridiculous notion! Of COURSE it can buy happiness!"

"No, you're wrong." Countered Valor. "It's true, a lack of money could certainly make you unhappy, with bills, and needing to eat... but money alone can't provide you companionship. You can buy friends, yes, but then how do you know they're truly your friends, if you only know them because you lured them over with a carrot on a stick? Real relationships are made of respect, kindness, humility, any of the things that make us human. Money is just a resource."

"I didn't come here expecting an argument on money, but the girls are right!" Said MegaManR. "Money can change your life, it's true... But let me tell you something. No amount of money would have saved someone I know. They should have died, and it was my dad's dedication to work day and night, love to push through hopelessness, not money, that saved that life. You can't just wave zenny at a problem and make it go away."

"Laws bend to my whim. I'm a goddess among mortals, why can't you see I'm offering you more than most people can even comprehend?!"

"Maybe you are." Said Blaze. "...But morality is worth more to me than money."

"Then I'll take you by force!" Snapped BeautyButterfly.

"Ooh, someone's not used to taking no for an answer." Said Treble.

"Don't get cocky. Where are her reinforcements coming from?" Arthur looked carefully. He couldn't see anything at first, but by now he was used to dealing with any situation. "Sniff them out."

Treble immediately looked up. "Up there, look out!"

Everyone scattered, dodging a blast of energy from on high. Dozens of the disposable navis suddenly started descending, each and every one equipped with butterfly wings, in case it wasn't clear enough what this woman loved.

"There's no way I'll be able to get a clear shot!" Shouted MegaManR.

"Let me!" Valor crouched, then jumped up spreading a pair of wings. "I'm coming for YOU!" She soared up, unstoppable, and breathing fire.

Ember quickly sliced and diced the closest enemy, and Blaze jumped into CrossFusion without another word.

"Treble, clear out any enemies that go for MegaMan!" Instructed Arthur.

"Oh yes!" Treble darted to one side and crossed his claws over the chest of one enemy, then picked them up and hurled them into another one. He laughed, and then launched into a flurry of attacks against any foe that dared to get too close to the ground, red eyes blazing.

 _He seems to be having more fun than the last few battles_. Noted Arthur, as he shot down another with his tail and then used the ElementBreath to burn down four more. He panned the camera around, tracking the rest of the fight. What caught his eye was Valor, apparently not invincible. She was struggling in the air, fending off attacks from every angle. Even if none of the cheap navis could have matched her alone, five on one wasn't nearly so easy. With a mighty shout, she turned a leafy green, and the five that had been clinging to her suddenly shuddered and fell, wings bound by... thorny vines, by the looks of it. A wood-element form. She hovered uncertainly, then BeautyButterfly herself blindsided her out of nowhere, throwing in a fistful of shuriken and then drawing a katana.

For a moment Arthur had a second of wondering why this crazy lady would use a katana, before noticing the handguard was shaped like... guess what? I don't even need to say.

It was a truly three-dimensional duel. Valor's aerial control on her wings wasn't the best, and she seemed to be tired... really tired. But she was moving fast and with the force of a truck, and when most things are flying the last thing they need is to get hit by a truck. She flailed the vines at BeautyButterfly, trying to disarm her as her foe twirled herself, flourishing and flashing the blade in the same timing as Valor's vines. It was a great display of skill, given the fact that a katana would break if swung incorrectly... or perhaps it was EM, negating that.

Arthur watched as Valor conceded control of the air, dropping herself down quickly as her wings started to lose their glow. "I can't stay in the air any longer! I'm using too much power!" She called.

"Treble, use your power to revitalise her." Said Arthur. "Just be careful, okay?"

Treble jumped behind Ember, and started casting.

Arthur was about to look around again when he felt a shiver run through him. It was unmistakable. The feeling of someone else arriving.

* * *

He stuffed the PET into his pocket, and turned around. "Oh..."

Bass floated forwards. "I see you've got something there that belongs to me."

Arthur realised he was wearing one of Bass' cloaks. "...Did it let you find me?"

"No... I simply knew you would be here." Said Bass. "We have time travel on our side."

"..." Arthur needed a moment to put everything together, before realising what he'd done wrong. "Ohhh. Your navis saw I wasn't present in the battle, and that the group left from one direction..."

"So I waited for the battle to distract your allies, and I travelled to this moment in time." Explained Bass. "Simple time-travel."

"..." Arthur bit his lip. He knew how many levels of bad this was. He would have considered himself in less trouble if whoever was leading this organisation had appeared. His heart was going out of control, and he was panicking enough that he couldn't plan. "...Are you going to kill me?"

"Out of respect for Treble, no. I'm just going to throw you into an empty room until you starve." Bass raised a hand, dark purple energy roiling within. A rift attack. Arthur had no idea if it would even be possible to dodge, but he had to try. And then what? Bass completely outclassed him in every way. Arthur couldn't run or fight him.

Bass threw the rift, and Arthur dived into a forward roll to one side, evading. "I won't give up! Treble is counting on me!"

Bass was visibly suprised. "You're really going to resist. Really. I think we both know that your emotions won't carry you nearly far enough to beat me."

"I'm aware. But as long as there's even the tiniest chance, then I won't give up." Arthur put his fists up. _This is a bad plan and I'm going to die_. He waited patiently. His security training was all for grappling, subduing people without causing any real harm. Perfectly useless, when Bass came at him with the Darkness Blade, and far, far faster than Arthur could physically move himself.

Clang.

Arthur realised he wasn't dead, again. He was starting to make a habit of this whole 'survive getting attacked by enemies that should easily beat you' thing.

"Just as I thought." Said a somewhat familiar voice. "I'm EXACTLY on time." Red cape. Ancient helmet. A shield that had blocked the attack.

"Nobody?!" Said Arthur.

Pantheon raised his sword. "You're not the one responsible for trying to uncover the knowledge of Mu. But you knowingly helped them. That alone is reason enough for us to end you."

"Ha. I'd like to see you try."

"Arthur, leave. We will take care of this, as bearer of Aegis." Arthur wasn't a coward, but there's a point where you don't stick around no matter what. He ran for the portal, and before jumping in took one quick glance at the erupting fight. Neither side was moving from the spot. They were duelling with swords at breakneck pace, and Pantheon was... winning. Arthur couldn't tell how, but at least in a pure swordfight, Pantheon was better than Bass. Bass made one downward strike, and Arthur watched that red cloak blow around in a nonexistent gale, straight into the path of the blade. And it stopped the attack dead, letting Pantheon jab forwards, scoring a clean hit.

Bass jumped back, raising his busters, and Arthur jumped out before he could get peppered.

* * *

Arthur landed on Blaze. "Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Hey Arthur! We were about to go get you." Said Treble.

"You okay down there Gran?" Said Valerie.

"Just fine." Blaze pushed Arthur off as he tried to stand up. "Something happen? I thought you'd wait for us."

"Uh... yeah, you could say that." Arthur's heart rate started to return to normal. "J-just a small brush with death. I've had closer calls."

"What? What happened?!"

"Bass." Said Arthur.

"Oh, heck. How did you even make it out?!"

Arthur took a deep breath. "I know you may not like the guy, but Pantheon showed up and intervened. He... said something weird. About him being EXACTLY on time."

"Nah, that makes sense. It's got something to do with how this place works." Said Ember. "Things happen when they're needed and not a moment sooner. No idea why, but maybe one of The Save's higher-ups will oblige."

Blaze clapped a hand over her mouth. "But what if that hadn't happened?"

"It's nothing. Please don't think about it." Interrupted Arthur. "I'm more curious as to what happened here. I got interrupted halfway through that battle."

"We've logged her out." Said Lan triumphantly. "Bet you wouldn't believe who that was."

"Hm? I... well, by the sound of things someone you know?"

"Yep! I know her grandma. Feels good to help out one of her grandkids." Said Lan.

"I have to say, her reason for joining up with The Save wasn't as deplorable as I expected." Nodded Valerie.

"Oh? What was it?"

"Boredom, apparently. She'd reached the top and had nothing left to do." Said Blaze. "Crazy, right? But... I can believe it."

"You're okay right, Arthur? He didn't touch you?"

"Totally fine."

Everyone started to leave.

* * *

"You know, something a lot of people don't seem to get about friendship's value and stuff is... it doesn't always grant you crazy combat skills and stuff." Said Lan. "It gives you the power to avoid needing to fight in the first place."

"Yeah, pretty much." Said Valerie. "Half the time when I tell someone they could really use a friend they think I'm about to rant about how much stronger I am because I believe in my friends and stuff, but friendship gives you strength because your friends help you out. And you you help them out. It's really that simple. You stop each other getting in trouble."

"Of course, the boost to determination's pretty great too!" Added Ember. "And... well, that can translate into more fighting strength! The will to never give up, the ability to work together. FullSynchro's pretty great, after all!"

Treble nodded. "Blaze, you okay? You've been kind of quiet."

"No- I'm freaking out." Said Blaze. "By the sound of things, you could have died then! Because of a decision I made!"

Arthur sighed. "Please, don't worry about it. Seriously, it really wasn't even the closest I've ever been to dying."

"But if Pantheon hadn't come and rescued you, or if Bass had just hit you with that rift, or... well, do you have any idea how lucky you got?! It... it would be my fault if you were hurt right now!"

"I'm well aware that I got lucky then."

"I just... how can I be the leader, when my decisions are so... unreliable?"

"I wouldn't follow anyone else." Said Arthur. "Val, you agree with me right?"

Valerie nodded. "Blaze, you've got to stop doubting yourself."

Ember smiled. "Look, worrying about your decisions and actually taking responsibility for your failures makes you a better leader than most."

"Aw, thanks... well... yeah. Can't give up now." Blaze nodded.

"So then, what's our next move?" Said Arthur.

Blaze turned, looking up at the air. "Give me a moment. I'm going to just study the timestreams..."

Valerie looked up too. "Hey, there's that empty one again... I don't like that one."

"Any idea why a whole timeline would be empty?" Said Lan. "It doesn't make any sense to me!"

"...Drawing a blank here." Admitted Arthur.

"Treble, good news." Said Blaze. "Flare just beat the daylights out of some navi that tried to attack Ethan. Excalibur still gets work done, no matter the world. And not a scratch on her. Alias is looking a bit rough but he'll be fine."

"Heh, you don't appreciate how good Flare is at fighting until she gets serious and knocks you flat in ten seconds." Treble grinned. "Good to know she's okay."

"It's a shame Ethan's still in combat so much, though. But maybe it just comes with the whole Beyondard thing..." Mused Arthur.

"Maybe."

"Should we pick out our next target?" Said Chroma. "Yeah, I know you're a bit jittery Blaze, but we have to keep at it."

"Mm... I think it might be time to go after SteamMan, ProtoMan and Zero. I've been hesitating about it constantly up until now, but now I think we have to. We need our link to the outside world back, and we probably need Zero to try and rescue Ethan, and most of all... We can't leave them at Bass' mercy." Said Blaze determinedly. "Anyone disagree?"

"I'm with you. Whenever you're ready, we can go. I haven't been fighting, so let me cook. You want the beef noodles or chicken?" Arthur got the plastic bag and water out. "Hrm. We're running out. We'll need to make a detour for some more."

"Ugh, needing food sucks." Blaze lay back. "This would be way easier if it were a game. Instant healing and no need to rest."

"That'd be something." Agreed Valerie. "But no food means I'd never get to try the family banana bread. Forget the secrets of Mu or whatever, that's what I want to learn from the past. I'm gonna bake some for Sonia when I get back."

"Wait... you're not the Guardian of Mu?" Asked MegaMan. "Oh."

"We thought it was you for sure, being this mysterious time-traveller from the future and stuff with a cool alien sidekick!" Added Lan.

"Sidekick? I'm the one that takes all the damage!" Protested Chroma.

Blaze looked around. "Well, don't repeat this once Zero starts working again, but... that's me. I can't say more though. Ok?"

"Ok!" Said Lan.

* * *

"So Valerie, tell me about yourself. I want to know a bit better while I've got the chance." Said Ember.

"Hmm... I'm pretty sure you know all the interesting bits about me."

"Oh, don't be silly." Said Blaze. "What's your favourite colour? Hairstyle? Season?"

"Ugh, I didn't need reminding about my hair." Valerie caressed it remorsefully. "It's such a tangled old mess... What I'd give for a good shower. Anyway, I like Turquoise. It's... just nice and calm. Like Winter. Can't beat some good old snowfall."

"Hey, how about you Arthur? I... never actually asked your favorite colour!" Said Treble. "Mine's pink!"

"Hmm..." Arthur shrugged. "Dark green. That one looks good. And I guess I like Autumn while we're doing this. The temperature's not too hot or cold."

"I like summer and yellow!" Added Blaze. "They fit me really well! Lan, how about you?"

"Blue, of course! But the season, hm?" Lan put a hand on his chin.

"I like summer. I don't have to remind Lan to do his homework every day for six weeks." MegaMan gave a knowing look at Lan.

"Guilty." Lan raised his hands. "Hey Val, you look like you're still in school, right?"

"I'll have you know it's very inappropriate to mention a girl's age." Said Ember with mock indignance.

"You should ace your history project if they still do them in 22XX! I mean, who else in the class is gonna actually go back and get to meet their grandma?"

Valerie suddenly seemed a little offbeat. "Eh... I, uh..."

"I know history's kind of boring, but it's a pretty good chance if I do say so myself." Said Arthur.

"...I just... well, I'm... I guess I'm homeschooled mostly."

Blaze narrowed her eyes. "...But your mom..." She sighed, deflating a bit. "I see. Trouble fitting in, huh?"

"I got some friends in the end! Why do you think I praise friendship so much? I've lived without it, and life just gets kind of... grey." Shrugged Valerie.

"Shh. Gran's here, if only for a short while. Let me handle it."

"You're not _that_ much older than me!" Protested Valerie. "I lived just fine for years!"

"But you shouldn't have had to. Let me make up what I can, as the closest thing you have to a blood parent." Finished Blaze, sitting next to Valerie.

Valerie rolled her eyes. "...Okay, _mom_."

"You love me really."

 **Author's notes: Why is it so hard to find WideShot R? It's a basic chip, but in BN6 it can only be found in the Underground... inside mystery data... that should have a virus, but you cast 'Untrap' on. The chance of finding a GMD with a virus seems to be about 15%. To get Wideshot is 33%. So by some maths, that's 5% to get WideShot. 20 Untraps per WideShot on average. And a lot of tedious travelling. Ugh.**

 **Reveiwer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: The collateral damage alone would make Fallout fans tremble with joy. And more terrifying is the prospect of either one winning, since that would either mean Omega with one of the Bass giga chips, or Bass that has absorbed Omega. Neither bodes well.**

 **I've never actually played the ZX series, only watched a let's play. It looks fun as heck though, maybe once I finish this story, in the future?**


	60. Chapter 60: The Enemy

"...So, we're heading off for Zero now." Arthur said as he gave Lan a lift up onto Treble.

"Yep! And SteamMan and ProtoMan too!" Said Blaze.

"Let's just hope we can beat Pantheon. I can't think of many people that could stand up to us, but Pantheon's one of them."

"But if Pantheon turned up to help me, then do we really think that it's him behind this?" Shrugged Arthur, as he pulled himself up.

"Yeah, it might be that Scorpio Sand guy they mentioned..." MegaMan checked his notes. "Val, do you know them?"

"Nope. But I'll tell you now they're an FM-ian. I wonder if they know I don't have the Andromeda Key? After all, most of them were named after the zodiac." Valerie mused. "Heh, I'd love to see the look on their face if they actually did do this to get the Andromeda Key."

"The... Andromeda Key?" Questioned Ember.

"It's an important artifact from my world." Explained Chroma. "And... it was stolen, to prevent misuse. The thief hid on earth, leading to... most of our exploits. I'd say that covers it."

"You stole it and hid it somewhere?" Said Lan. "Is there some kind of super-important alien relic hidden under your bed?"

"Hey, do I look like a thief?" Protested Valerie. "It took weeks of prodding Chroma to get anything out of him regarding this stupid key! Only to find out he wasn't even the one who took it!"

"Everybody ready? Yes?" Blaze stood up and pointed forwards. "Hi-ho Treble, away!"

* * *

"So then, this time I'll come with you for the fight." Said Arthur.

Blaze nodded "I shouldn't have let you be split from us."

"Well, we did think that I would be safe there, rather than a walking target." Reasoned Arthur.

"YEAH, NEXT TIME I'LL JUST GIVE YOU SOME SHIELDING."

"You know, it's kind of annoying considering that even though I'm the oldest, strongest and tallest here, and I know some martial arts now, I'm complete dead weight in a fight." Grumbled Arthur. "At least one of those should count for something."

"WHO KNOWS? MAYBE YOU CAN SUPLEX SOMEONE IF THEY GET TOO CLOSE?" Suggested Treble. "JUST... WHOOP-BAM!"

"Suplexing is for showing off." Said Arthur. "Anyway. What's the plan, Blaze?"

"Let's attack as fast as we can." Suggested Blaze. "Ember and Treble could zip right in and both hit whoever's closest, and then I'll get into CrossFusion, and Treble can... do Treble things."

"What about the navis they're holding? If they're actually hostages, mayyybe we should free them?" Pointed out Valerie.

"I can handle that!" Volunteered Lan. "I'll load up some Invis chips, and go in first. Once they're free, then I'll fight with them, and you'll be able to get in!"

"Alright. We're counting on you- Please be safe." Said Ember.

"You can count on us, don't worry!" Reassured MegaMan. "When Lan and I work together, we can't lose!"

"..." Arthur nodded.

A few hours passed.

"Aaand we're all out of food." Arthur scrunched up the plastic bag and stuffed it into his pocket. "I suppose we're feeding four people..."

"It's okay. We can get more." Said Blaze. "After the battle though. We're close, I'm sure of it."

Valerie frowned. "But still... That timestream..."

"Empty?" Said Ember. "I know it's worrying, but that's old news."

"No no, there's just something a bit off about it." Valerie inspected the air.

"Eh, I don't see it." Shrugged Blaze. She brought a hand up to her hairpin.

"Let's focus on rescuing our friends." Said Lan.

"Well then, we ought to press on, I suppose." Said Arthur.

* * *

"Okay. This is it. They're held in here." Blaze walked over to a rift. "Everybody knows the plan?"

"Yep! Okay MegaMan, let's do this!" Lan Crossfused, and got ready to jump.

"One moment." Valerie held up her transer, Arthur finally in a situation he could actually pay attention to the words she said while transforming. "Val Ayaka! On. The. Air!" She shimmered, and was replaced by Valor. "Ready to roll!"

"Great! I'll need to get in with Ember before I can start my crossfusion, and Arthur can follow me."

"I'll go through first in case we get ambushed." Valor jumped through the rift. MegaManR followed, then Blaze, Ember, Treble and Arthur.

Arthur found himself in a temple of some kind. It was airy, but there wasn't much light, it filtered down from gaps in the ceiling in rays, just enough to illuminate patches of the area. The stone that made up the pillars and walls of the temple was a light gray, undistracting. Overall, a fairly inviting abandoned temple, if a little dark.

Ember's blades lit up. "Well, stealth will be easier here. But do we have any more light?"

"Lemme try something..." Treble said, to Arthur's left. The yellow blips on his skin suddenly lighted up like christmas decorations. "Hmm, not really much light... but I feel pretty!"

"Are you trying to manipulate your looks? That's kind of dangerous. You might displace an important file." Warned Lan.

"Uh..." Arthur raised a hand. "I'm sure normal files just... load a model?"

"Not for navis. They're made of so much data, that it actually does take up that space."

"Well, no sense dwelling on it now. Treble, tell us if you smell anything. Val, you're the one who might be able to sense who we're looking for, so it's up to you to do that."

"Got it. I'll take the lead." Valor walked to the front of the group, and they walked through the darkness.

"You know what would be bad right now? A trap." Said Ember.

"I can take it. Dragon scales are strong and tough." Said Valor. "And I'll get hit first. Plus I can fly out of a pitfall, even if my wings take a lot of power."

"If you're sure... Ech, don't like making people walk into traps..." Said Blaze.

They went on. Arthur could hear everyone's steps, even as the group tried to muffle them. And with each of his own steps, he felt just a little less welcome in this hall.

"I smell something." Said Treble. "Something... familiar."

"...Any idea what?"

"It's too faint." Said Treble. "...But it makes me feel angry."

"Let's just be careful. Keep your voices down. I'll try and sense them." Whispered Valor.

The group crept forwards. Arthur felt scared, even if he was keeping a strong face and heart. This place didn't feel as abandoned and harmless anymore. It was almost like there was some kind of spirit in the shadows...

"I feel a foe nearby." Said Valor.

"I'll go ahead and find our friends, then." MegaManR vanished into invisibility.

Arthur looked around, trying to use the meager light to see what kind of room he was in. It was at least fairly large, maybe circular, but not much of a ceiling. In fact, the ceiling was probably quite comfortably in jumping height for a navi. He shivered, suddenly. He wasn't cold, despite the rip in his jacket shoulder. This was just an involuntary shiver.

"Guys... do any of you feel like we're being watched?" Said Blaze.

"I feel something. Something..." Valor trailed off.

"Evil." Said Treble. "How in the net did you get HERE, Gray?"

Arthur turned, looking behind himself.

"You... I feel such a... phenomenal hatred directed at you..." Whispered a voice. It was familiar, a girl's voice...

"Show yourself." Commanded Arthur. He didn't expect it to work, but it was worth a try.

There was a clack, unmistakably a pair of metal shoes or heels touching the floor. "Gregar, have you gained yet more power? Destroyed the rebels? Slain one of Falzar's best? The hatred focused on you... I'm so envious, Gregar."

"Gregar? I'm not- wait, Falzar? Is she alive? Who ARE you?"

But the voice had lost interest. "You!" Arthur could feel a profound pressure suddenly focus on Ember. "Impostor... Beyondard has no place for impostors!"

There was a sudden clang of crossed blades, and a spark in front of Ember, where she'd blocked the attack. Ember's mask slammed down and the glowing blade illuminated the voice in the dark. "What the..."

Ember was parrying... Ember.

"I'll kill you, impostor... oh, how I hate impostors..." Said Not-Ember. And then she vanished.

The room descended into chaos.

"Where is she?!"

"Arthur!"

"Blaze!"

"Sol Cross!" Shouted Blaze. Ember changed form, and for a second Arthur was blinded by the light, before hearing blades crash against each other, turning to see the room in a psychedelic mess. Light and dark were clashing like they were solids, their half illuminated as though the sun's own rays were present, the other black as oil, and the barrier between them wavered constantly.

Ember walked forwards, holding her sword. "...Who are you? Why do you look like me?" The darkness seemed to repel at her presence, but threatened to seep around the sides.

"Who are YOU? Who are you to dare imitate a general of Gregar's army?" The darkness rippled, and lunged for Ember, and then a black shadow swung it's own sword at her.

Ember blocked, and for a moment her copy was visible, before they stepped back. "Gregar is our friend. If you're from Beyondard, and loyal to him? There's no need for us to fight."

"...Friends with Gregar, eh? Friends with the one and only being that I take orders from?" They clashed blades again.

"I don't know who you are, but stop this, if you're Ember too!"

The shadows paused. "...Blaze?"

"Yes, that's me! Blaze! You're from the Beyondard timeline? I'm from another timeline. Ember, what happened to you?!" Blaze called.

Ember hesitated for just a second when she heard her name, and then suddenly the shadow sword struck out, and caught her right through the chest.

"You died." Not-Ember ripped the blade out.

The darkness suddenly encircled the group, Ember only projecting a small field. Everyone ran to her to keep in the light, as the blade again lashed from the darkness, this time at Arthur's back. Treble blocked it, and while it bit into his arm, he had a lot of HP.

"Why did you hurt me so much?! Do you know how it feels to be so alone?!"

Valor deflected a shadow strike with perfect timing, and Ember got back up, maintaining her SolCross.

"I'll leave you to rot in this darkness! For all eternity!"

"Leave... my netop... ALONE!" Ember raised a hand, as though catching one of the small rays of light from the roof. She focused for a second, and then with a flash, the whole room lit up. "Nowhere to hide!"

Not-Ember stood in front of them, in a cross that appeared to be the opposite of Ember's. Where Ember had orange, she had purple. Where Ember had flame, she had oil. And instead of a sun on her chest, there was a moon. "I'll take you all on! DarkSouls... come forth!"

Ember stood defiantly, and nothing happened. But Treble clutched his Navi mark, and Valor seemed ill. And then it clicked for Arthur.

"Gray... you're Gray!" He pointed.

"I am Umbra! She who imprisoned Nebula Gray! Now die, all of you!"

Shadow formed into a copy of Treble, and a copy of Valor. A three-on-three fight.

Treble looked his DarkSoul dead in the eye.

"Treble, destroy!" Shouted Arthur, going for his PET.

They dashed at each other instantly, clashing claw-to-claw. Treble's DarkSoul was vicious, taking the raw destructive power Treble often held back, and putting it to use. But Treble had learned to hold that power back for a reason, and while he was fighting with brutal force, that tiny bit of holding back, not going all-in, was letting him slowly open up more space to move in, and more options to fight. It was a long three seconds of hand-to-hand, and then Arthur sent chips.

"Thunder, HeroSword in!"

Arthur ran around to the side as the DarkSoul tried to circle Treble to get ot him, and Treble threw out the Thunder. Mirroring his moves, TrebleDS launched a Thunder, and Arthur had a heart-stopping moment as he realised the HeroSword could reach him thanks to it's range. But in an instant moment, Treble lashed out and caught the HeroSword with his own, and then twisted it, before driving his claws in and bringing the sword down. A solid strike.

Arthur was wary of sending more chips, but knew he needed to get through this fight fast, before the DarkSoul started using the tail buster. Treble couldn't block every shot. "BugRiseSword!" Risky, but it didn't quite have the reach to hit him.

Treble held an arm forwards, and the gray blade appeared, shining brightly with its chaotic power. The DarkSoul did the same. They leapt forwards, and started to duel. It was a matter of timing and ferocious focus. TrebleDS brought the sword up in a forceful arc, Treble slipped past and jabbed, but he couldn't quite outspeed himself and only barely avoided getting stabbed in retaiation, before he jumped up, and kicked off the ceiling, coming down as fast as the eye could see, the two hitting each other at the same time and ignoring the wound like it was nothing.

Arthur was tacking the HP. Treble had 1000, his DarkSoul 900. A small advantage. "BugAura. Try and knock his out before he can take yours!"

Treble fired his tail buster a few times, the damage was nothing compared to his normal tools but a good distraction for a moment, and as the enemy brought up the aura he swung the BugRiseSword with outright perfect timing, breaking the aura not one moment after it had appeared. The DarkSoul stepped back, and started firing its tail at Arthur, only for Treble's aura to harmlessly absorb the shots.

Arthur realised something. This was a darksoul. There was, without doubt, no need for mercy. "Don't hold back! Shred them! DoubleBeast advance, go!"

Treble responded in kind, on the verge of full synchro. In a blink, he crashed his claws against his DarkSoul, the force nearly slowing time to a stop for just a moment, then he punched again in half a second, and then drop-kicked his double, launching off his chest and flipping in the air, before they let loose with DoubleBeast. It was suddenly carnage, Gregar and Flare both fighting alongside the two Trebles, but the difference was that the real Treble had a BugAura up, keeping him safe and sound.

Arthur backpedaled out of the one attack that was directed at him, the copy of Flare's talons ripping three parallel cuts into the front of Bass' cloak, but missing Arthur's body, much to his relief. He looked to the side and then dropped to the floor, out of the way of ValorDS's spectral scream. The fight was going well, but not over yet. "Finish them! AreaSteal!"

Treble flickered once with power, and Arthur felt like something had risen up inside his chest. FullSynchro was ready to go. Treble snarled with a terrifying smile, and teleported into his DarkSoul's face. Bite into swipe into throw into into slash into jumping up, grabbing the DarkSoul by the ankle and slam-dunking it into the stone floor. It dissolved into shadow, and appeared to disappear.

Treble sighed. "Back where it belongs." And then ducked as Valor went flying into him, launched.

"What is this thing?!" She shouted.

"Your DarkSoul! It's all your negative emotion, weaponised! Do NOT hold back!" Cried Arthur.

"Fine!" Valor ate a card. "You pushed me this far, and Blaze needs help now! Destroy... Missile!"

Arthur turned away from the sudden barrage of rockets, the wind from the stream of blasts rippling his cloak and threatening to blow it off, and his skin felt just a bit burned from the heat, and then it was over. He looked tentatively, and there was no trace of ValorDS- except a smoking crater. DestroyMissile was serious business, apparently.

Treble turned to see EmberR fighting with this... 'Umbra' navi. Umbra had the upper hand, EmberR out of chips and on the defensive. But she was fighting back valiantly, her blades moving like pistons, flames licking at Umbra's defences- but Umbra was using chips Arthur didn't recognise, first a purple Thunder, then several black bamboo shoots threatened to impale EmberR from behind, and just as she dodged, Umbra dove forwards, bringing her blades down for EmberR's chest, and Valor suddenly stood in the way, crossed her arms and a shield appeared, the blades sparking off harmlessly.

Treble swung in, forcing Umbra back, and just like Ember, she was far worse at defence. Valor moved in and started attacking with her heavy gauntlets, the two walling Umbra back to a corner. Everything was looking up, for just a moment. And then Umbra threw her arms up, and the floor ruptured.

A swarm of red hands surged out, Treble was grabbed by one and writhed, trying to get it off, Valor blocked one, two with her shield and then it dropped, and she was swarmed down, and Ember nearly made it, dodging all but the last, almost like she'd done it before, but one unlucky moment caught her, and she was grasped.

And Umbra was quick as a flash. Behind Arthur, holding an arm blade to his throat.

"Surrender." Said Umbra, as the hands dissolved.

"Arthur!" Called EmberR.

"You can't win. Where's that skill now?" Mocked Umbra. "Did you think I could be Gregar's closest ally without ruthlessness?"

Arthur had his hands under the cloak. Out of view. This was ultimately what saved his life. Umbra went from a winning position to loss in one second of not focusing on Arthur, and Arthur getting desperate.

Judo throw. Arthur grabbed the blade arm and Umbra's midsection, and before she could react he threw the smaller navi over his head and onto the floor. Perhaps she was far stronger and faster than him, but he weighed more and that was all the throw needed. "Treble now!"

Treble jumped the length of the room, and pinned Umbra. She struggled, but to no avail.

Arthur breathed out. They'd won. "Tie her up." He said, panting. "We need to ask her some questions."

Treble glowed, and then a few rings of... something appeared around Umbra. He got off, and she couldn't move. "Too close! That. Was too close."

EmberR split back to Ember and Blaze. "She really does look just like me." Said Ember.

Blaze walked over. "...Could anyone make sense of what she said?"

"...According to her, she was Gregar's right-hand. But that makes no sense." Said Arthur, sitting down. "...I hope Lan's okay."

"What are we going to do with her?" Asked Valor.

"...I can't just delete her." Replied Blaze. "...Maybe... I don't know, maybe I can get that darkness out of her? I can't imagine leaving Ember to be deleted."

"No. Delete her." Said Ember. "She was about to kill Arthur. She's too dangerous."

Treble walked over to Arthur, and checked over him. "You're okay? She didn't hurt you, right?"

"I'm..." Arthur was aware of a small cut on his face. It could easily have been much worse. "I'm okay."

Umbra's mask rolled up. "Gregar... I have failed you."

Arthur walked over. "Does the name 'Alias' mean anything to you? Ethan? Flare?"

"What does it matter? I... you don't even hate me enough for me to draw power, you... cowards..."

"Just answer the question. Or I'll pick it out of your code." Snapped Treble.

"I was sent to... intercept a boy... called Ethan, and capture him. But his navis, the copies of Gregar and Falzar, beat me, knocked me off a cliff. I should have died, but Gregar... sent me here. Told me to hunt you down. Bait you in."

"So you captured our friends and waited." Filled Valor. "But... Gregar wouldn't betray us!"

"Our Gregar wouldn't." Said Blaze. "There might be another one in Beyondard."

Arthur realised something. "And if programs can materialise there, when Gregar first appeared... It must have been... Oh... Oh, that poor world..."

"I died in that world, you say?" Blaze looked at Umbra. "How? And... what happened? Ember would never fall this low..."

"Nebula gray." Replied Umbra. "Go on. Finish me. Gregar's armies have no place for failure."

"Nah." Said Arthur. "Look, I'll make you a deal. Tell us how to get to and from Beyondard and you're free to go."

"I don't know how. Why... why don't you hate me? Why can't you hate me?"

Blaze looked up. "We need to leave!"

"What's wro-"

The room rumbled. Arthur looked up to see the ceiling blow wide open, light suddenly streaming in, blinding.

There was a howling sound, cutting down to a series of growls.

"You've done well, Umbra?" Murmured Treble in confusion.

Arthur looked ahead in panic. Standind in front of them was something... bizarre. They looked like an old clock, overly complex and brass, parts dancing. And at the core, where the face should have been, was a computer screen.

"You..." Crackled the voice. "You fell for my ploy, and were my most effective agent of all."

Umbra sat up, nearly falling to one side thanks to Treble's binding. "You... you imitated Gregar! You dare manipulate me?!"

"Who are you?" Blaze looked at the strange being in... fear? "You're the one behind this. I can feel it."

"It's an EM being..." Warned Valor.

"I am Astral Loop." Said the strange being. "I have no need for a wave changer- I only seek the secrets of Mu. Join me. I will... make it worth your while."

"Never. The secrets should never be used." Said Valor.

"Oh? But I already have some. I am invincible. Powerful enough to bend time."

"And you die here." Arthur turned to see the newcomer. His heart eased a little.

"Pantheon. Just in time." Said Arthur.

"At first I was going to kill you for interrupting my duel. Now, I shall have to kill you for... almost a literal trillion times as much. For everyone that has ever lived is endangered by your reckless use of forbidden knowledge."

"You are welcome to try. Go on. Attack." Crackled Astral Loop.

"Everyone, with me!" Pantheon swung his sword down, Treble swiped, Valor blew fire and Ember sliced.

Nothing connected. Every attack disappeared once it got close, the weapon simply phasing out of reality, and returning once out of range.

"Aegis!" Pantheon held his shield forwards and a red glare shone on Astral Loop, but nothing happened.

"Your struggles are meaningless. With the knowledge of Mu, I am invincible. Guardian, step forth. Bargain with me."

"Never." Said Arthur. "What's my life worth compared to all of time? Nothing. No matter who I am. Compared to what you're asking? I'm worth nothing."

"Then I'll simply send you all to holding, and interrogate you one by one. Oh guardian, I hope it's worth it..."

"Aaaiiyah!" Ember ran forwards, and attacked, cutting desperately. Nothing.

Treble tried to claw again, but it simply wasn't effective.

"Gater!"

Arthur turned to see MegaManR appear to the right, an unfamiliar navi in front of him. Suddenly Treble yelped and dropped down as a stream of junk and debris slammed into Astral Loop, absorbed into nothingness.

"No way... not a scratch?!" Said MegaManR. Astral Loop just floated there, the screen flickering and golden clockwork revolving around it. Yet somehow it had just the faintest hint of smugness.

"I tire of this. I have all the time in the world to beat you... one... by... one." Astral Loop started glowing. "Begone!"

"NO!" Shouted Blaze. She pushed Ember out of the way, grabbing her hairpin out and bringing the sharp end down. And to Arthur's amazement, it hit. Astral Loop wobbled for a moment. Somehow, this tiny hairpin... had penetrated the best defence imaginable.

Too little, too late.

Everything went white.

* * *

"Uuugh..." Everything hurt. Arthur woke up and came to the immediate conclusion he was starving, his mouth was a desert, and his body was sore.

"You're awake?" Said Ember.

Arthur sat up groggily, trying to properly open his eyes. He was in a ridge of red, dry dirt. "What... happened...?"

"Some kind of attack meant to teleport us. I think Blaze made it go haywire."

Arthur pulled himself up. Bass's cloak was in tatters, his security jacket burned underneath it. And he was so hungry. "How long was I out? Where are the others?"

Ember helped Arthur get to his feet. "...We're the only three here."

"Three?"

Ember pointed to a wall. Sitting against it, tied up, was Umbra.

"A shame. I was hoping you'd die there, break her psyche." Said Umbra.

"Sorry to disappoint." Deadpanned Arthur.

"Should we delete her? She's Nebula Gray. Look, I know you weren't there for that, but she's literally mankind's evil soul!"

"Show some self-respect." Umbra called. "We're the same. I just sealed Nebula Gray inside myself. Once Blaze died, it was our last hope. But I'm not controlled... most of the time."

"Beyondard... what an awful world." Murmured Arthur. He bent over a bit. "Ember, how long was I out again?"

"Twenty hours." Said Ember.

"What do we do now, then?" Arthur said. "I can't navigate this place. I need to find food and water... and shelter. And the others... Oh no, Treble... What if he's lost?"

"I... Blaze will find us, right? Right?"

"I hope so..."

They stood for a moment.

"I'll log you out." Said Ember. "It's too dangerous."

"No. I can't abandon anyone."

"Arthur, you're no good to any of us if you're dead."

"But-" Ember reached for Arthur, and Arthur scooted back. "Hey! Don't!"

"I have to!"

"I said do-"

Ember tapped Arthur. Nothing happened. "N-no way... it's being blocked?"

"Way to build trust." Said Arthur bitterly. "If you're done, then we need to get going. I'm going to find water, and then roam until I find Blaze, and she can take me to Treble."

"...What about her?" Ember pointed to Umbra.

"...It would be better to take her with us. You didn't appreciate getting manipulated then, right?"

"I won't work with you. I can do this myself!" Umbra tried to get to her feet, and fell over.

"I don't think so. I'll carry you. You don't weight much." It took some effort, but Arthur lifted Umbra up. "Treble, please, be okay..."

* * *

Treble was running out of ideas. Valerie just wasn't waking up.

'Sssth...'

"Oh, speak english would you?!" Moaned Treble. "Arthur's gone and I have to find him! And Flare fought with that Umbra. What if she's hurt? Or- or..."

"Not... first... language..." Whispered Aegis. "Nobody... Is... missing... must... find..."

Valerie stirred.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake!" Treble knelt down, looking her in the eyes. "Val? Hey? Nothing broken?"

"Have..." Valerie's eyes suddenly snapped open. "What happened?!"

"No idea. All the others are missing now, though. And I don't know what to do! What if they're- what if they're gone? That Astral Loop guy beat us easily! I couldn't do anything!"

"It'll be okay... whew, I'm... thirsty. How long has it been?"

"Almost a whole day. I was... I was about to try and wake you up with soul power. Aegis talked me out of it."

"Aegis? Aegis is here?" Valerie looked around. "Wait... Chroma? Chroma?!"

"Not... here..."

"Can you use your powers with Aegis?" Said Treble hopefully.

"No."

Treble nodded. "Alright... then I'll protect you for now. Arthur would want that. I'll link to your PET so you can send me chips."

"This is a transer." Valerie held out the green device. "...I don't know if it'll work with a navi. Or if my cards will..."

"They... will... Seen... it... before..."

Valerie messed around in the menus for a while. "Here goes..."

Treble linked to her transer. "Okay- just for a little while, then you're my netop. I'll rip the enemy apart. Um. If that's, you know, your thing."

"Let's just get moving. I can't trust you, Aegis, but you can come with me." Valerie got up.

"Want to ride me?" Offered Treble. "Seems to be the only thing I got right recently..."

"...You fought well." Said Valerie.

"But I nearly let Arthur get hurt again! I can't help Flare, or Gregar! I can't work out what's going on! I couldn't stop Astral Loop! And I couldn't help wake you up! I... what good am I doing here? I'm useless!"

Valerie seemed to hesitate awkwardly. "I... uh."

"S-sorry. I'm just... used to... Let's get going." Treble transformed. "JUST GIVE ME SOME DIRECTIONS. WE NEED TO FIND ARTHUR."

 **Author's notes: I listened to Toto by Africa for the fist time today. Now I want Treble and Flare to sing it to each other. Anyhow, here's the main enemy- an invincible foe to all but... a hairpin. Don't worry, I'll properly expand on them in due time. But for now, we have some characters in trouble. In case anyone's wondering, I'm not following the groups without Arthur/Treble, since I don't go into the thoughts or hidden emotions of characters I don't own. Rest assured they're still at play.  
**

 **Reveiwer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: Oh god, several years of MOBA experience have ingrained that rule into me, alongside Don't Pick Stupid Fights. I saw that Omega Zero fight on youtube, and allow me to prescribe you a medicine for his healing cheats/strategy. UltimateMaverickX on Youtube made a Zero vs Omega video. It's gud stuff.**

 **JaneValentine007: To me, Valerie's always been the cynical yet sensible one. Having none of that idocy. However, it was a reasonable assumption Arthur would be safe on the other side of that rift, even if it was utterly wrong. I do worry I ran away with your character, I should communicate more, really...**

 **Dramatic hero timing but with a reason? How do you like that?**

-Deleted Meme-

Arthur felt something rise up in his chest, and looked at the DarkSoul. He couldn't help but shout.

"Enemy located!"

"Darkness overrated!" Added Treble.

"Aura obliterated!"

 **"Full Synchro ACTIVATED!"**


	61. Chapter 61: In time

"This is getting tough..." Arthur slumped, nearly dropping Umbra onto the ground. "So thirsty..."

"How long have you gone without water? When did you last drink before this?" Said Ember.

"...Maybe four hours before this?"

"So that's twenty-eight hours without a drink. Give Umbra here, you can't dehydrate yourself any further." Instructed Ember.

Arthur hesitated for a moment. "You won't kill her?"

Umbra laughed. "Oooh, distrust? Juicy! Got any more of that?"

"Oh, put a sock in it. Maybe I tried to log him out but I won't betray him like that." Said Ember. She reached under Umbra and slung her over her shoulder.

"...Well, we have to keep going. I can't give up. Let's march." Arthur straightened his back and walked.

"No headaches yet?"

"I'm alright mostly... mouth's a little dry." Admitted Arthur. "I just have to keep trying. Maybe that whole 'perfect timing' thing will bail me out?"

"Don't count on it. It might be handy, but it didn't help Ethan and it didn't let us beat that... clock."

"...Hey, a thought." Said Arthur. "I know you're a link navi of mine anyway, but how do I use your crosses? Which ones have offense, defence, you know?"

"Okay then. I'll run you through them. SteamCross is good for the SuperArmor and it lets me use shield chips. But i'm not as fast. TrebleCross I... overwrote. That would have been really useful right now, huh... Anyway. SolCross gives me sun powers. I don't understand it at all but it's good. PlugCross is pretty balanced, it gives me FloatShoes. ProtoCross is really extreme mobility, and it can do more damage as long as the enemy can't block my swords. And FreezeCross can do ice things. It just... rounds out what I can do. I can have an elemental advantage most of the time."

"Good, good." Arthur took out his pack of chips. "...Evil chips won't work for you, will they?"

"No. Wish I'd kept TrebleCross..."

"Meh, we didn't know this would happen. I still have a few SP chips anyway."

"I could use evil chips." Umbra grinned. "I remember the way my coding distorted when I used it as a prison. Such pain, such pain..."

"We're not nearly desperate enough to release you." Said Arthur.

"I don't feel much darkness from you, especially compared to when we fought. Did Treble seal it completely?"

"..." Umbra's grin disappeared.

"Phew. At least I don't need to worry about darkness infecting either of us for now, then."

Time passed. Arthur was still walking, but his legs were getting sore, his stomach was starting to complain, and he was absolutely parched.

"Ugh... I feel a bit dizzy."

"This is bad." Ember rushed over. "..."

"I'll still keep going..." Arthur coughed. "I'll never let something stupid like this kill me." He cracked a smile. "Can you imagine that, Umbra? A bit of water managing to affect me, a normal old human, more than your attacks?"

"Oh, as long as I get what I want."

"This isn't a joking matter!" Protested Ember.

Arthur kept walking. It was almost painful.

"Hey... Ember, can you feel something?" Arthur felt a buzz in his legs.

"...Is it a tremor?" Said Ember, looking around. They were in a barren land, rainclouds hanging uselessly over dry earth. Arthur could swear fate was mocking him.

The vibrations became stronger. "Is this an earthquake?"

Ember suddenly grabbed Umbra's foot and threw the navi like an olympic hammer, and jumped to the side. "Arthur, move!"

Arthur scrambled for Ember, and narrowly avoided a blast of earth, chunks flying everywhere as someone jumped up from the hole in the floor. He turned, shielding his eyes from the light rain of soil. The ambusher standing there was clad in a brown suit, with shining black plates of armor protecting their legs, the face of a rodent, and most strikingly, two giant metal scoops for hands.

"Well, if you're not TunnelMole, I'll do a backflip here and now." Said Arthur.

"Sarcastic, eh?" It was a deep voice, hardened, and... it sounded like a girl.

Ember got ready to fight. "I never got my own back for that hassle you gave us on the train. Arthur, watch out for her digging attack. She could come up anywhere."

"Wait, what did Astral Loop bribe you with?!" Shouted Arthur, as TunnelMole swung an arm down, flinging a chunk of dirt at him at terminal velocity. Arthur just barely dodged. "No choice... Ember, destroy!" He fumbled for his PET and chips, keeping an eye out for more dirt.

"Payback time!" Ember skated forwards, dodging a thrown boulder with a sharp blast from her thrusters. Closing the distance was no problem at all, but the moment she got close TunnelMole threw her two giant hands in front of herself, and didn't so much as break a sweat. Ember was fast, manipulating her enemy's guard to try and make a chink, succeeding and as quick as she could, jabbing in her blade. It didn't leave a scratch. With a mighty shove, Ember was thrown back, and TunnelMole dived below the earth.

Arthur started running. The tremors in the floor were the main way he could gauge where and when the floor was about to get launched. A few metres to his left, TunnelMole burst out, missing both navi and netop. "AquaNeedle, AirHockey, MathManEX, in!"

Ember charged again, but this time TunnelMole took a fierce stance, and the second Ember was in range she swung and caught her in the mask, the artful coding thankfully keeping her safe. Ember stumbled back and nearly fell down, but as TunnelMole moved in to crush her with a weighty overhead strike, a rain of needles came down into her back, and Ember recovered her balance, clashing blades against scoops for a second, and then palming a small disc and throwing it into her opponent's chest at point blank. The AirHockey phased through, and as they did it ricocheted off nothing but air, circling around and hitting again, ignoring defences. Ember backed off to dodge a quick swipe, and MathMan appeared next to her, walking forwards calm and calculating.

TunnelMole attempted to get below ground, but that single focused attack caught her nonetheless.

"Alright, here goes... Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade. LifeSword!" Arthur focused on the tremors, reading what he could from them. He'd become an expert at combat rolls these last few days, and tossed himself like a tumbleweed, rolling across his shoulders and coming up on his feet.

Earth exploded everywhere, and a few large chunks landed in front of Ember, walling her away from her target. TunnelMole charged them, and blew one to smithereens, the chunks of rock pinging off Ember's armour as she frantically dodged a few attacks. "Arthur, give me a cross." Commanded Ember, voice steady as stone.

"...SteamCross, go!" There was a short 'ping'.

Ember jabbed a hand forwards, and her fist met the scoop with enough force to halt it. She drew the LifeSword, and TunnelMole booted her in the chest, trying to waste the attack. Ember took it in stride, and in the moment she had made a huge swing, leaving a glowing gash.

"Surrender!" Called Arthur. "You can't beat us."

TunnelMole didn't respond, and dug own into the earth, still with plenty of stamina. Ember was wearing down fast, her low health coming back to bite her. He had to burst the enemy down, and Ember needed to avoid damage. "...GregarEX, UnifyCode, FlareEX. DoubleBeast! Ember, focus on dodging!"

Ember nodded once, and Arthur was ready for TunnelMole to emerge this time. He was at a safe distance once she burst from the ground, and Ember stayed where she was. A rock was hurled at her, and she vaulted on it, the toughness of her fists keeping her from harm. In the air, she discarded her cross and boosted to the side, untouchable. Her enemy was confused until Gregar and Flare both attacked, and the moment of confusion had kept her guard down. Drills, swords, storms and claws. Staggering, TunnelMole blindly put up her shovels in defence.

"Ember, charge!" Arthur started running. He'd seen his chance. He sprinted for all he was worth, and dropped into a sliding tackle. His legs exploded in pain as he dropped onto the rocks, but he hit below the waist and swept TunnelMole off her feet, albeit not romantically, and he didn't manage to do damage. But that opened up one good shot for Ember, all she needed. She flashed past.

There was a still moment before TunnelMole's EM form dissolved, to be replaced by a normal girl. Arthur groaned, and picked himself up. Bruised for sure, but his trousers were only scuffed and he didn't think he was even cut.

Ember rolled her mask up with a 'clunk'. "You okay?"

"Yep. Nothing that won't fix itself."

Ember whipped around. "Don't use the escape charm!"

"Make me!" Shouted the wave changer. Arthur couldn't see much of her, just brown hair and white skin. A dirty shirt.

"Could we talk about this?" Said Arthur. "I mean, I can't stop you leaving, but... c'mon. I just want to talk."

"You sound like a desperate ex."

"Never dated. I just wanted to know why you were doing this."

"You think I'm just going to stand around and monologue about my oh-so-evil motives? Like some B-movie villain?"

"Hey, I once literally had someone do that to me, while he sat there in a leather chair." Arthur smiled. "What was it for? A loved one? I may never have dated but I can understand it. I've seen how much some of my friends care, and truthfully... I'd go to those lengths for them if I didn't know the consequences."

"...Fine. It was because of my country. Our main export was coal. I come from a line of miners. Work it out from that."

"We switched to renewables and your country's economy is shot? That sucks, but we do need to care for the planet. How bad is it there?"

"Not sure. The economy's crashing but we were fairly well off before. I just... didn't want to see our culture disappear."

"..." Arthur nodded. "I respect your reasons for doing this, but I can't let you change time. The future is a good place."

"He could be lying!" Shouted Umbra.

"Shut up, Umbra, you come from an entirely different timeline to us." Said Ember. She looked up at the miner. "Uh, you don't come from Beyondard, right?"

"Nope. Who's the unhelpful one over there? I know the future will be good. I've seen it." Admitted the girl. "I just... wanted to be a part of it."

"..." Arthur nodded his head. "You're free to go. You can leave this place and return to your world now, if you want us to send you. Or go back to The Save. I won't give you a solution to your problems unless I'm sure it'll work. You could try becoming someone with influence over the future, but that does take a heck of an effort, to pull a whole country out of a crisis. Just no changing the future. That would possibly kill us all."

"Hmph. I'll get out of the way. I can't beat you by the looks of things."

"Oh, one question!" Ember said.

"Hm?"

"...Do you have any water? Or a drink?"

"Catch." She threw a small carton of something at Arthur. "...Well. This is kind of awkward now, so... bye."

"Bye."

She disappeared through time. Arthur looked at the box in his hand. Orange juice. "Oh, thank goodness..." He took one gulp to finish it. Maybe not a proper drink, but a valuable time extension.

* * *

"Treble, can navis from 20XX actually... use battle cards?" Called Valerie.

"NO IDEA! WANT TO TRY?"

"Uh, okay. Do I need to dismount?"

"YEAH. DIDN'T YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO ARSENALMAN?"

"Who?"

"OH YEAH, YOU... ACTUALLY WE HARDLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT EACH OTHER. WHAT'S YOUR ARM THING AGAIN? A... TRANSFERRER?"

"Transer." Valerie swung her legs over, and slid down. "Normally, this is where Chroma stays. He can exist outside it just fine, but it makes a good place to stay. Unfortunately for now, we've traded Chroma for... a creepy floating snake that wants me and my entire family line dead."

"Not... true..."

"Wait, really?"

"Only... your... ancestors. And... I... have... missed... that... chance."

"Well isn't that just peachy. You totally didn't convince me otherwise by randomly making my life hard and putting me in danger several times." Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Calculated... had... to... know... if... you... knew..."

Treble shifted to his smaller form. "Okay, I know I can link to your Transer just fine! So, try giving me a card and we'll see what happens! Maybe stand back? I'm trying to be careful with you!"

"Let's just give you a card then. Barrier." Valerie swiped the card through her Transer.

Treble looked at his hands. "Hey, I feel tingly. This is weird data! It feels floaty."

"Floaty?" Valerie raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, floaty! Uhh, okay... I can't find the option to use it."

"Can you magically use it? Purple power or whatever that is?" Asked Valerie.

"Well, I'll try!" Treble glowed for a second.

"Ow ow ow!" Valerie waved her arm a bit. "You're just heating up the Transer! Somehow."

"Settings... reverse... compatibility..." Whispered the air.

Valerie opened a menu. "...Can I really trust Aegis? Why would he know this?"

"I... am... three... thousand..."

"I guess he must have been alive for all this technology when it happened. Ooh! Were you there when I was made? Gregar? Flare?"

"No."

"Aw."

Valerie was fiddling through menus. "Wow, you'd never find this option if you didn't look for it. Compatibility on. Looks like it limits what I can send pretty badly... I mean, you are outdated by 200 years. What if I overloaded you?"

"I'd be back." Treble was still upbeat, not bothered. "No really! I can come back if I'm deleted."

"Okay, two cards at once, and no bonus cards. And if I send a giga card, then I can't send any more. Good thing I never relied on burning cards."

"What are bonus cards?"

"Well, if you counterattack perfectly you can trigger some kind of... it's like your full synchro but with yourself. It gives you a free card to use."

"Sweet! Anyway, now that I'm set up to fight with you, let's get going! Which way to Arthur?" Treble clapped his hands together.

"Uh... Look, mind if I grab something to eat first? I'm starving here." Said Valerie. "It's been like, a day."

"Okay, then... I can respect needing to eat, ha. Let's go!"

* * *

Arthur sat down, coughing. "Ugh... blast this place. Why can't I just find some water?!"

"Arthur! You... you need to stop. Much more and you're going to pass out, and then what do I do?" Said Blaze.

"Give up?" Suggested Umbra.

"How about no. I can keep trying." Arthur forced himself back onto his feet. He walked three paces and tripped, landing on his front. "Ow."

"Maybe... maybe you should stay here, and I'll try going ahead to find water and bring it back." Said Ember.

Arthur was too busy getting onto his knees, fumbling for something. "Yes! Yes! How could I forget?!"

"Huh? Forget what?" Ember bent down to see what Arthur was fumbling with. Her eyes widened when she saw the red orb.

Arthur held it to his mouth. "Zero, come in. This is Arthur. Zero, do you read me?"

There was a nerve wracking three seconds.

Arthur sighed. "Damn... I guess whatever's stopping you jacking me out is-"

The orb crackled. "Zero speaking. I hear you."

"YES!" Arthur clutched the orb to his chest. "Zero, I'm with Ember and Umbra. I need water and food. I don't know where I am, and I can't go on much further, but if you know where I can get some water I will get there."

"I'll send Protoman and SteamMan with some supplies. It might take a short while, so hang in there. I'm trying to find the others, but I just don't have enough viruses." Replied Zero. "I can't come and help while I'm focusing so much on finding everyone, so Lan is guarding me. We've brought in the NetGaiaSystem, we'll set up links once needed. As soon as we arrive, you're safe."

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's just hope they get here in time, eh?"

"...Should I go and search now, or stay and guard you?" Asked Ember.

"I've got some time. No need to take a risk. Hey, while we're here... tell me about Beyondard, Umbra."

Umbra snorted. "Why should I? Neither of us will gain anything from it. Although... I could just weave in the odd lie, make you question everything. You'd never be quite sure who was alive or dead. That does seem fun."

"This is getting old fast." Said Ember. "Can't you just be decent? Or anything less than this... half-baked taunting."

"What, you want me to just tell it to you straight? All your friends are likely dead by now! There's no way they can hold their own for long. Your precious Blaze is dead too, Ember."

"Pfft. I have never believed anything less in my entire life." Said Ember.

"Anyway. Just... I don't know, what's Beyondard like in general? What's this army of Gregar? Why's Ethan such a target?"

"Beyondard is a world where two cybeasts came into being ten years ago. First was Gregar, who went on a rampage and couldn't be stopped, gathering a following of viruses, until Falzar was made, to put him and the army of viruses loyal to him to rest. Only she was even worse. She cared so little for collateral damage that she crushed more cities than Gregar did. Before long, humanity crumbled to a small resistance network, where Blaze was a high-ranked officer... until the Nebula revolt. A cult of doomsayers, who just wanted it all to be over. They digitised all the evil in man into Nebula Grey, planning to pread him through the whole dimensional area to destroy everything. Blaze went to stop it, and was deleted because we just couldn't make it stay down. So I locked it inside me. And you know what I discovered? It wouldn't have survived being spread through the whole dimensional area. It was all for nothing."

"My condolences."

"And what are they worth? Spit?"

"Spit's quite valuable to a man who's dying of dehydration." Said Arthur. "Anyway... Ethan? And why did you join up with Gregar?"

"I joined Gregar because a navi swears loyalty to a beast by accepting them into their soul, and Falzar just... wasn't malevolent enough for me. She means well, despite her horrors."

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Said Ember. "...As much as I hate that saying. So's the road to heaven, after all."

"Gregar accepted me. But... well, I could never put my soul into my new work. Heh. I was lost to my own internal struggles, trying to make sure Nebula Gray didn't break free. I still rose through his ranks as an... assassin of sorts. I can fight well. And then Ethan appeared. He made an enemy of Gregar, an enemy of Falzar and an enemy of humanity. So I was tasked with killing him. It's given me more drive to exist than the last few years."

"There's the lie. Ethan wouldn't make all those enemies. Especially the human resistance!" Said Ember.

"Oh no, that was true. They saw the fake beasts and things spiralled from there. Oh, one redeeming thing for your friend though. He at least named his ragtag bunch well."

"Hm?"

"GRIFFIN. Grouped Resistance, Insurgency, Freedom Fighters, Intellectuals and Numbskulls. What an acronym."

"...Yeah, that's... that's Ethan, all right." Admitted Arthur. "So what's he doing?"

"Oh, who knows, who cares? Being sealed away like this... I could get used to it. It quells the struggle inside me. Dulls it."

"Why are you like this? So little regard for life? And no passion, no fire?" Said Ember. "I would never let myself become someone like you..."

"It doesn't matter anymore. I'll return to Gregar in failure, or be deleted here... it doesn't matter to me. The world won't cease to spin for the sake of one dead girl..."

Arthur grimaced. "It's true. You're... extremely different to Ember."

"Good." Said Ember and Umbra, at the same time.

* * *

"Wow, this place is nicer than it looked in the timestreams." Valerie wandered through a sunny orchard. "Hey, and all this fruit, too! Getting lost in time with a murderer isn't all bad!"

"Sssth..."

"I wonder what happens if I eat any of this fruit. People made digital foods, but I bet they're a bit different to this." Treble walked by her side. "...Still, can we not stay here too long? I still need to find Arthur... and Flare. Hey, you're sure there's nothing you know that can help Flare? I didn't really talk to you much before, but I'd like to know you!"

"Blaze is the real expert on all this stuff." Said Valerie. "If only I could see her, then I'd go right to her. Flare... well, what makes her so special to you?"

"That's... okay, this is quite a long list. But I like her voice, her kindness, her hidden strength, her wings, her grace, her caring, her confidence, her... her... well, everything really! She's just perfect. Hey, have you found anyone like that?"

"No. I'm glad for you though."

"Well, I really need to rescue her. I can't leave her to be stuck in Beyondard, if there are more evils like Umbra running around." Treble fiddled his fingers together. "I... I do worry I'm gonna make you all get sick of my whining for her. And I keep worrying that some day I might mess up somehow and mess our relationship up. That scares me loads."

"Nonsense." Valerie waved it off. "The way you are? She can't ask for more, even if you might try and give it anyway. Ooh, those apples look nice and ripe. Just a second." She walked over to a tree and grabbed the trunk, before shimmying up a bit and grabbing the lowest branch. It was a bit of a stretch, but she dropped down with an apple in hand.

"Hey, there's a tap." Treble pointed to a board stuck into the floor near the edge of the orchard, a blue tube running into the floor. "Do we have any bottles we can fill up?"

"Arthur was carrying them." Valerie walked over. "Hmm." She seemed to consider the tap. "But we really want to be able to take water with us. Any ideas?"

"Use... your... abilities... Treble... Make... a... bottle..."

"Alright!" Treble held his hands out. "Here goes." He started glowing, and purple energy frizzed around in his hands for a few moments. It formed into a sphere with a lid on top. "Here."

Valerie took the container awkwardly. "Alright, that's pretty good... Wait, why were you so scared of using this power?" She started filling it with water.

"Oh! I forgot! Maybe you shouldn't drink from this!" Treble clapped his hands over his mouth. "I'm made of bugs. Errors. Just a load of them fused together. They tend to infect other programs. Maybe you shouldn't drink from that..."

Valerie looked into the sphere. "Seems okay." She dipped a finger in and licked it. "Augh. It's... this is vinegar."

"Vinegar?! Well, okay, not poison! That's a start!"

"I'm not drinking vinegar!"

"Try... changing... it..."

Treble took the sphere back. "Uh... here goes, again!" He zapped it. This time he took a sip. "...Well, no idea what it is but I don't think it's harmful to people."

Valerie took a sip. "...This is... well, I don't even know. It tastes like prawns. You know, maybe I shouldn't be drinking from the potentially poisonous basketball."

"Leave... as... is... is... safe..."

"Yeah, okay, okay..." Valerie clapped the top of the sphere down. "Well, I'll grab a few more bits of fruit and we can go and find Arthur."

Treble jumped to one side. "Val, get down!" He batted something out of the air. "Who was that?! Show yourself!"

Valerie's automatic response to an attacker was to hold the sphere aggressively, like she might dunk someone with it. "Aegis! Scout them out!"

"Behind... left... tree..."

Treble stared down the tree. "Oh yeah, I smell them now. You better run now, because I won't lose!"

A bolt of purple energy cut through the bark of the tree. Treble dodged, and Valerie yelped, getting out of the way. "Okay, Chroma. Wave change! Val Akaya, On. The. Air!"

There was an awkward moment as she remembered Chroma was currently missing.

"Uh, Treble, ride on!" She grabbed her cards.

Treble charged for the tree. If whoever shot that bolt could go through with an attack, so could he. They made a break to one side, revealing themselves for the first time. Green-beige jumpsuit, with a lot of white plates of armor over their wrists, ankles, knees- wait, those were clocks.

"Now, battle cards! HiCannon, TailBurner!" Valerie swiped the cards.

ClockMan jumped back as Treble ran and swiped, attack falling short. "I'm ClockMan, newest and best member of The Save. Valerie, surrender now. My powers of time manipulation can easily defeat you- Yah?!" He ducked as Treble fired the HiCannon, avoiding barely, and then Treble used TailBurner, the fires blasting ClockMan. "Why you!"

"Your group won't take anyone else!" Treble rushed in, brandishing his weapons. "And if you're new to fighting..." A set of clocks appeared, surrounding ClockMan. Three smaller ones, in a line on front of him, and a giant one behind him.

"Bring it on, fool." ClockMan twirled his fingers, and two sets of clock hands appeared in them. He pitched them like boomerangs, one aimed for Treble and one for Valerie. Treble was out of the way before it was even out of Clockman's hand, and Valerie had enough distance to walk calmly to one side, planning her next move.

"Let's show him a thing or two. AreaEater! PowerBomb!"

Treble didn't recognise the chip, but it came pre-programmed with instructions. His hands burned with purple flames for a second, and he jumped, twisting into a slash at the floor. It took out a huge chunk of earth, and then to ClockMan's surprise it all slid forwards, dragging him a little too close to Treble to dodge the thrown bomb. It blew up into a little cross.

"Watch out!" Called Valerie.

Treble's eyes flicked around for a moment, seeing one of the clocks spin into overdrive. He got out of the way as fast as possible, as a laser fired from it, for whatever reason. Then the next one started to tick over, while the one at the back kept counting. Pew, pew, pew. Three lasers, three misses, Treble moving side to side in a blur, buster alight.

ClockMan ran forwards and jumped over the line of clocks, another pair of hands in his hands.

Treble showed him exactly why you never wanted to fight him in close quarters. When Clockman threw with his left it went wide, and he thrust forwards with his right in good jab at Treble's chest, but at the speed of 'screw you' Treble's claws flashed past the dagger aimed for his chest, dicing it into bits, and then his other arm raked ClockMan across the face and he swung into a flurry of lightweight strikes, wholeheartedly trying to turn the enemy into ribbons.

"Rewind!" Clockman was suddenly sucked backwards through his own time, to the moment he leapt his defensive line, and threw both clock hands before jumping back over. "Now, see how you like this!"

Treble was wary as all three clocks began to spin. In the blink of an eye, a red-black warrior materialised from the central one, swinging a sword at Treble for just a moment. Treble backstepped and then jumped over another copy of the mysterious attacker.

Valerie's mouth was hanging open. "Treble, I think we can leave this guy. Rogue's going to kill him for us."

"Who?" Treble ducked and rolled, and then sprang up into the air, and landed in front of one of the clocks, before biting as hard as he possibly could. The clock cracked and dissolved.

"Nevermind, let's do it for him." Valerie took out another few cards. "Taurus Fire- go!"

Treble felt heat on his back for a second, before a giant metal bull went charging past, burning everything in the way. His flame got close to ClockMan, and then suddenly it blasted him, before the copy disappeared. In the moment he was recovering from the flames Treble was upon him, raining down blows.

"Take... this!" The giant clock started turning, and Treble paused for one moment, until it fired a huge laser, burning into him. ClockMan drew his blades again, but then to his horror Treble grabbed him by the throat _while the laser was still firing on him_ and ran to the side, taking ClockMan with him.

"It's over!" Treble held the navi up easily.

Valerie hesitated for a moment, and walked over. "Can you tie him up like you did to Umbra?"

"Nope. I used too much power on the water thing." Treble said, oblivious to the kicking from ClockMan. "Should we delete him? It's been a while since I got to delete anyone!"

"Hmm..." Valerie considered it.

"I-I'll bother someone else!" Squawked ClockMan. "You're too tough! Mercy! Mercy!"

"..." Valerie looked up at ClockMan. "Alright, look. If you can survive Rogue when he finds out you used a copy of him for an attack, you're free to go. Just don't go and bother MegaMan."

Treble dropped ClockMan. Immediately, ClockMan grinned a devilish grin and brought up a charm. "One bothered Megaman, coming up!" He tapped it and vanished, before Treble could stop him.

"Welp, he's done for." Said Valerie. "I was being serious."

 **Author's notes: The remaining enemies are Dynamo Comet, VoodooMan, Bit-Byte, and Scorpio Sand. Four down, four to go... right? Of course, there is the small matter of Blaze's group...**

 **This chapter has been slammed out at maximum speed tuesday 13th, because I need to revise for an aerodynamics test on tuesday 20th, so I won't be writing again until then. A short break for myself.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: Nothing like an involuntary party split without regard as to who can work with each other! And while I don't want to spoil much, I will say that physical objects are not the weakness. Man, UMX is incredible. I normally get shy about watching videos in case people look over my shoulder but those ones are so good I'm just like 'Yeah check out this sick battle guys it's between two robots that are just like humans, to overthrow a tyrannical dictator of humanity because he controls all the habitable land left on earth after a catastrophic war 200 years ago which I can also tell you all the lore of...'**


	62. Chapter 62: Luna

Arthur was sitting crosslegged. It was just a matter of holding out until rescue, and telling your body that it didn't need to sweat, because he needed that water.

A tiny amount of sweat formed on Arthur's brow. Of course, unlike a netnavi, he couldn't just tell his body not to do something and actually expect anything. He reached for the camera. "How far off are they now?"

"They're three-quarters of the way. But you realise that means nothing?" Replied Zero.

Arthur nodded. Travel was weird, to say the least. "...Any luck finding Blaze? Or Chroma?"

"My cameras can't pick up Chroma. And no, we haven't yet found Blaze. Just hold on." Said Zero.

Arthur put down the camera. "...So then, Ember, Umbra, looks like we're still stuck here for now."

Umbra shrugged. "What was the difference between your Blaze and mine? Why is she still here? Assuming she is... I have to see her. I must know. I must. Now that I can think, I can only think of questions."

"...The difference is that yours comes from a world which is much harsher." Said Arthur. "Tell me. Does... does Treble exist in your timeline? Am I alive?"

"I don't know."

"...Well, since you're answering questions- Dark SolCross. How." Said Ember.

"I found a damaged Cross System, and exposed it to pure darkness data. Yours is probably just pure light data. Right?" Said Umbra.

"...Yes. Does it have a name?"

"LunaCross."

"Sol and Luna. I wonder if we could make them work in tandem." Mused Arthur. "I imagine they'd have some explosive results if the SunMoon advance is any indicator."

"We can't unseal Umbra." Said Ember sternly. "For her sake too, if it's keeping the darkness down."

* * *

Valerie looked up at the air. "I just can't find Blaze... Or Arthur. Are you okay if we move for Lan?"

"OKAY... I GUESS LAN MIGHT NEED US TOO. HEY. CHECK FLARE FOR ME?"

"...Seems... She seems... nevermind. N-not deleted, okay?"

"BUT SHE'LL BE OKAY, RIGHT?"

"Yes. If I could, I'd go and get her right now."

"...I'M GOING TO GET BASS. IF HE PUT THEM THERE, HE CAN GET THEM OUT."

"..."

They continued on.

Valerie seemed confused. "I see visions in the air. But I can't make sense of them. Most of them are just... fragments. But I see that clock... Astral Loop."

"MAYBE IT'S MESSING UP TIME?"

"It must be. And maybe it has something to do with the empty timeline." Valerie frowned. "...And how did Blaze damage it?"

"YEAH, I COULDN'T."

"Neither could any of us. Maybe that barrier... only lets through some objects? Or blocks EM waves and data?"

"BUT THEN ALMOST ANYTHING COULD GET THROUGH!"

"Like a hairpin. I wish I could ask Blaze. I hate being alone like this... I don't want to go back to it."

"GO BACK?"

"I used to spend all my days alone. I still spend a lot of time by myself, but... I like to see people every now and again. The introvert thing."

"OH, RIGHT. WELL, I'M HERE! I LOVE BEING AROUND PEOPLE, I REALLY CAN'T IMAGINE BEING ALONE."

"...Yeah."

They rode on in silence for a while.

"Hey, Treble... where would you go, in 22XX? Do you think we'll meet again after this? Or what about Ember? You don't age, after all."

"I... I DUNNO, I HAVEN'T THOUGHT ABOUT IT."

"...Two hundred years is a long time."

"I'LL KEEP ALL MY FRIENDS SAFE! I DON'T NEED CHIPS TO BE A GOOD FIGHTER!"

"I just want to stay in touch with whoever I can. But especially Ember. She must know so much about my family. And maybe you guys could help me keep my friends safe, too. Your cards would help."

"YOU CAN HAVE MY CARD! UH, IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE ONE."

"Heh, thank you. I'll have to talk about it with the others if- when we see them again." Valerie suddenly looked around. "Wait, stop."

Treble ground to a halt. "WHAT'S WRONG?"

"I see an enemy in the timestreams. If we got the jump on them now, then maybe we wouldn't have to worry about them once we have to attack The Save. You think we can take them? It's... It's Bit-Byte."

"YEAH, SURE!"

"Okay. Head that way."

* * *

Arthur's camera buzzed. "Zero! What's the news?"

"ProtoMan and SteamMan are in trouble! They've been attacked, and we don't know if they can win!"

"But... Surely ProtoMan can-"

"It's their defences- we need someone who can outmanoeuvre them. ProtoMan is doing damage, but we think they're stalling for time."

Arthur was already on his feet. "Ember. We're moving out." He coughed once, and looked up before grabbing Umbra off the floor.

"Arthur, you're going to-"

"Follow me." Instructed Arthur. "There's absolutely no time to lose."

"I'm serious! You can't go anywhere near a battle in your current state!" Ember ran in front of Arthur.

"The alternative is being ambushed by Bass, and after we got our butts handed to us by Astral Loop then I don't think Pantheon will be able to beat him again."

"But- you can hardly walk straight!"

"I'm well aware. But this is the only choice I have, Ember. If I stay outside that fight Bass will get me. If we completely abstain then I won't be able to get the water I need."

"...Fine! But if you get hurt then I'm going to be angry enough to scare you back to health!"

"Fiery as ever, I see."

Umbra chuckled. "Is there anything that rattles this guy?"

"...Yes." Said Arthur coolly. "But I do my best to be steady."

* * *

"So what's the plan? Do we rush them down? Sneak in? Blast the whole area?" Said Treble, as they gathered around the rift.

"Well..." Valerie looked up at the air. "Is it too late to chicken out? I don't know if we can do this. There's only you to fight. No! I- We can do this. We can do this. Blaze isn't the only useful one."

Treble patted her on the head. "Don't worry! We've got time!" He said cheerily.

"Wha- ...Uh." Valerie lightly touched her head where Treble had patted. "Right. So I don't really want to just blast them in cold blood, so maybe if we can just... sneak up on them and capture them, then work out what to do with them. Uh... what can you do?"

"Okay, I have claws, speed and a buster that never misses. Oh, and I can breathe fire and electric and stuff. But I had to use a chip for that, and... Arthur has it. Oh, plus the transformation! That gives me way more defence."

"Speed is good." Commented Valerie. "...Hmm."

"Hey Aegis, what would your plan be?"

"Wait, we're really just going to-"

"This... is... simple... if... they... are... alone. Can... just... overpower, with... initiative."

"See, he's got faith in me! I'll do this whenever you ask."

"Here goes, then... I hope I can use your power well enough. Let's attack!" Said Valerie determinedly.

Treble jumped through the rift, Valerie and hopefully Aegis following.

He landed on the other side, in a metal room. Rows and rows and rows of computer banks were running busily, whirring with enough noise to provide a helpful cover, and a low-powered strip light fluttered overhead. Valerie touched down behind him. "Where are they?" Whispered Valerie.

"Not sure... I smell so many things here, from all this data. It's impossible to pick out Bit-Byte."

"He's not expecting us." Valerie looked around, before opening one of the server cabinets and climbing up it. She poked her head over the top of the cabinets, and looked around. "Hmm..." She turned to climb back down, and slipped. "Aah!"

"Woah there!" Treble moved to catch her, as one of her shoes caught on the cables sticking out of the front of the server, ripping the cable out and the shoe off. He was able to grab her, as the entire row of servers frizzed and suddenly glared with an intense blue light. Generally unplugged machines shouldn't do that.

Valerie jumped back onto her feet, and went to grab her shoe, as Treble pushed her down to the floor. "Hey, what's the big i-"

There was a sudden 'pew pew pew' sound as the blue light turned into a salvo of little laser beams, peppering the wall across from the servers.

"Knew it!" Called Treble from the floor next to Valerie. "He's hiding in the machines! Guess he saw us coming, huh?"

"How are you so happy about this?! We need to get o-"

Treble jumped off the floor, bringing a set of claws up and ripping the nearest server out of the floor. "Come out, come out!"

"He's going to fire again!" Warned Valerie, as Treble knocked over another server.

Treble ducked, as Bit-Byte jumped out of the mass of servers, holding a loaded cannon. He'd timed his attack well, appearing overhead when Treble couldn't hope to dodge. Combat strategy to overcome a superior enemy... unfortunately, this 'enemy' was Treble. Bit-Byte fired, the gold bolt of energy slamming Treble and blossoming into a net. "Oof!"

"Now I've got you!" Bit-Byte held up the cannon. "Guardian of Mu, surrender."

"You can't change the future!" Valerie had risen to one knee. "If you do that, everyone will be put in grave danger- assuming it's even possible. Either way, you're already deleted!"

"Already deleted? Ha. A cheap trick to distract me. We'll return to The Save's fortress now... I'm sure the others will be more willing to surrender with you in captivity." Bit-Byte fumbled for a charm, and then walked over to Valerie.

Treble could only watch. Valerie suddenly sprung to her feet, shoe in hand, and swung it straight for Bit-Byte's mask. It bounced off with a resounding WHAP, and Bit-Byte stepped back in surprise. "Ugh! Just give it up-" Bit-Byte was halted again as something appeared in front of Valerie.

"Iam mortuus es." Finally, Treble got a look at Aegis. Red energy for the main body, but unlike the chaotic roiling of Chroma, it was subdued and shifted in a diamond pattern. It stretched into a snakelike body of length that seemed to shift, with a sword on the end. On his chest was a blank shield. And the face- a snake as predicted, with eyes a lighter red than Treble's- or rather, one eye a lighter red. The other one was blank, a line over it. Blinded.

"Hah! You'd try and fight me solo? Wizards are far weaker without a human to back them up!" Bit-Byte took out their sword.

What followed was the most pragmatic fight of the day. Aegis parried and moved into a blade twist that disarmed his enemy so hard that it detached the blade from his enemy's body completely. It went clattering into a corner, and Aegis stared the opponent down. Bit-Byte seemed to freeze up, long enough for Aegis to slap the blade against the side of his helmet. It didn't manage to get through the armour, giving some merit to Bit-Byte's overconfidence, but Bit-Byte moved to the side.

Aegis flicked the sword at Treble. And without touching him, it sliced through the net as if it were nothing, before disintegrating and reforming with Aegis.

"Rursus tuum." Aegis bowed and vanished as an absolutely furious Treble slammed into Bit-Byte's back, lifting him off the floor.

"Val! Give me some cards!"

"On it! Blazing Edge, Jet Attack 2!"

"Cool names!" Shouted Treble, as he brandished the flaming sword. He threw Bit-Byte to the side, and charged, bringing the sword down. Bit-Byte attempted to block, forgetting Aegis had thrown his own sword far to the side, and the attack cut through his hand, a lot of data dissolving into blue pixels. The hand just barely remained on, as Treble had the easiest opportunity to finish the fight before it could continue, and as fast as he could move he whipped past Bit-Byte, catching him with a simple but effective slash, and then touched a hand to the floor before launching into Jet Attack, the dash of the future sending him around the other side of his foe and giving him a mirror wound.

"Fine then! Take..."

"Not so fast!" Valerie ran forwards holding Bit-Byte's own sword, and jabbed it forwards. Bit-Byte was pinned to the wall by it. There was a moment of impressed grinning from Treble.

Valerie breathed out. "...Erm, that won't delete you, right? You're a navi and all." She said to Bit-Byte. She'd impaled him.

Bit-Byte fumbled for an escape charm. "I'll be back! I'll have my revenge! You... will regret sparing me!"

"Stop him!" Called Valerie in panic.

Treble did the only thing he could think to do. He used his soul. An arc of purple energy jumped from him to the charm, and Bit-Byte disappeared. "Oh, darn. Sorry, Val. I wasn't fast enough."

"No worries. Let's just... not pick any more fights." Valerie looked at the sword impaled in the wall. "Hmm. Never saw myself as a swordswoman, but... Maybe I should learn."

"Take it. He's a navi, he can have it replaced." Encouraged Treble. "And besides, we're on opposite sides. I don't think anyone would blame you. Oh yeah! Are you hurt? I forgot you're not a navi."

"I'm fine. Where do you get that energy...?" Valerie gave the sword a tug. It came out. Like most navi swords, it didn't have a handle- rather a cup that you'd insert your hand into, before it attached to your arm. Valerie slipped her hand in and gave the sword an experimental wave. "Hmm. Yeah. I like this weapon. I should see if Chroma can get one. But... phew, I just need to sit down for a moment." She took the hand out and stuck the sword back into the wall.

* * *

Arthur's marching was faster than you might have expected from someone who was in mortal danger of dehydration. His focus to just keep walking fast, and towards the only rift in the area gave him a steady pace. He sagged under Umbra's weight, but was just too loyal to give up. Treble was counting on him. Lan was counting on him. Blaze was counting on him. He had to protect them, or at least help them, because they couldn't fail.

So by gum, he wouldn't be the reason they failed. "Ember. This is the rift."

"Yes. Okay, you've convinced me- no more complaints. Let's do this." Said Ember. "I'll go first." She reached up and slammed down her mask. She jumped.

"This may not even be the needed rift." Pointed out Umbra.

"...It is, though." Realised Arthur. "Want to know how I know that?"

"Do tell."

"Because we're just in time." Arthur jumped, carrying Umbra.

He landed and immediately had to dodge a bolt of flaming rock. It smashed into a hard marble-tiled floor, and he felt a few stings of pain where fragments of floor had hit his trousers before looking to see Ember skate in to join the fray. Umbra bumped to the floor far to the side, without speaking a word.

Dynamo Comet was holding off ProtoMan and SteamMan with either every drop of power he had, or complete ease. As before, he was jumping gracefully, evasion making it nigh-impossible for SteamMan to even think about touching him, even if SteamMan was holding out well enough. ProtoMan was warping around, searching high and low for a gap in the enemy's guard, and he was throwing out a sea of sonic booms, they closed in from every angle in ways that Arthur was sure couldn't be dodged, but somehow Dynamo Comet just slipped past.

At least ProtoMan hadn't lost any of his talent, as he managed an absolutely frame-perfect block with his shield, the ensuing reflection knocking Dynamo Comet a few steps back.

Ember soared past, trying to slice at her target with her arm blades, but as if he'd never been damaged Dynamo Comet parried and threw her to the side, as she skidded SteamMan caught her and steadied her.

"I warn you. We don't lose fights when we're together." SteamMan looked up at DynamoComet, who pointedly ignored them while turning away a LongSword from ProtoMan.

"Ember! Destroy!" Arthur called out, voice a little hoarse. He could see a strategy, unreliable as it might be- but if he could occupy his enemy with a constant flurry of attacks, it hopefully wouldn't give him much opportunity to fight back. "Sword, WideBlade, LongBlade! LifeSword!"

ProtoMan closed in from the side, running in to form a pincer with Ember, trying to lock down Dynamo Comet's area to move in. Expecting a leap, Ember kicked herself into the air, ready to swing the LifeSword at any moment, only for Dynamo Comet to strike out, reaching for her with his chakram. Ember wasn't willing to waste the advance, and paid for it in HP as she was sent crashing down. ProtoMan nearly landed a hit, but again he fell short by just the barest amount, the tip of the blade coming so close.

"Thunder, VariableSword, set to SonicBoom. Lock him down!"

Ember scrambled to her feet as a small meteor missed her by just a few milliseconds, fragments of boiling rock pinging off her mask. She glanced to one side, as ProtoMan continued to slash nonstop, never in one place long enough to be targeted at all.

"Just like when we were at the Nebula base!" Called Ember, skating around the side. She started building speed, grinding a pair of long parallel scratches into the floor as her jets accelerated her, drawing a wide circle.

Dynamo Comet landed on one foot, tracking Ember carefully, before he dashed to intercept. ProtoMan warped in front of him at once, driving him back, and in the second that took Ember was already behind him, the unused LifeSword still in her hands. She swung it upwards.

There was a resounding crack as Dynamo still, somehow, blocked- but at the same time Protoman had attacked, and he got in a good hit before Dynamo pushed them both back with a blast of energy, and changed up his fighting style. He went on the offensive, straight for ProtoMan. His swings were fast and elaborate, designed to exploit his weapon's circular body for superior defence. While ProtoMan was forced to step back against the onslaught, Ember starting firing her chips, and discovered just how Dynamo had 'blocked'. A curtain of light was appearing around him, fracture lines running along where the LifeSword had hit. Thunder spread through it harmlessly, but the VariableSword left another crack.

Arthur saw it. "Let's break through! AirHockey, in twice!"

DynamoComet turned on a dime, switching focus to Ember in response to Arthur. Rather than getting in close to her, he quickly threw down a meteor and then moved in with a ray of cosmic light, trying to keep her at range. Ember just threw the puck to one side like she'd been training all her life, and it curved like a well-kicked football, straight into the side of Dynamo Comet's guard, and passed through everything effortlessly. Ember blasted forwards, lunging with her blades, only to be blocked with a desperate twist, and thrown to the side in time for Dynamo to turn and protect himself from ProtoMan, and then SteamMan came in with one punch he'd been saving for the perfect moment, sending Dynamo sprawling.

"Let's finish this." Said ProtoMan calmly.

"Just give me the order." Replied Ember.

"Here! FreezeCross- he can't escape when frozen!"

Ember paused for a moment as her armor turned a chilling blue and her blades froze over, becoming wicked icicles. ProtoMan warped to DynamoComet's side, blocking off his one escape route, and then Ember crashed into her target at breakneck pace, the impact causing a cold snap and freezing her enemy's feet to the ground. She cut once with each time, DynamoComet only barely managing to maintain his blocks, and then ProtoMan took out a Wideblade, and interjected with a perfect strike across the chakram, not aimed for the body.

There was an empty moment before the chakram fell to the floor in two halves.

"Surrender." Said ProtoMan.

"...Alright. I'm beaten." DynamoComet put his hands up. He started to move one for the back of his helmet, when ProtoMan pointed a sword at it.

"No escape charms."

"..." DynamoComet held still.

"So then." Arthur walked over, trying to focus. He was feeling a little woozy. "Why did you come here? What's your story?"

"Does it make any difference to how my performance ends?"

"...No, not really." Said Ember, rolling up her mask and returning to normal. "None of us particularly want to hurt you. If you'll just give up we'll send you back. That gets you out of our way and doesn't hurt you."

"...Hm."

"But I would like to know anything you'll tell us." Said Arthur. "Especially if it can prevent time being altered- I know that was probably what brought you here, but... well, if it happened it would be bad."

"All of are here because of that. Apart from Lady Millions. She was bored. I just wanted to see if I could retrieve the OOPArt."

"The, uh, Oopart?"

"It's an artifact that was lost beneath the ocean." Shrugged DynamoComet. "Very valuable. And very... well, powerful. I just thought it was a shame to see power like that be lost. And... I did wonder how I might match up against that girl, but... nevermind that."

"..." Arthur shrugged. "Well, okay. Anything that might help us deal with the remaining members of The Save? Or get around your base? And anything I can do about this... OOPArt? I don't want you coming back after us, after all."

"...I'm a little more loyal than that. I'll return to reality now, if you'd oblige. I'll find the OOPArt myself. This was merely an easy way out."

Ember reached out a hand and tapped him. He disappeared. "That was easy enough. Had me worried for a moment with how much trouble he gave you there, Blues!"

"Hmph. We held a numerical advantage for the whole time you were present." Said ProtoMan.

"Ugh, heh, you weren't here before." Said SteamMan. "You try hitting that guy with these fists!"

Arthur sat down. "Whew... alright, water?"

"Here." ProtoMan took out a huge bottle of water and passed it to Arthur.

"Thanks... didn't know if I was going to make it for a moment there." Arthur started drinking, chugging down the water so hard that he temporarily forgot air was something you even needed.

"Hey, who's this?" Asked SteamMan, pointing to Umbra. She'd spent the whole fight sitting in the corner.

"Oh, that's my evil twin." Replied Ember casually. "She comes from an alternate timeline where everything went terribly. We're just... taking her along for the ride."

"She wants to meet Blaze." Said Arthur. "I'm not sure what we'll do with her then, but since she comes from the world Ethan's stuck in, then hopefully sending her back can help us reclaim Ethan."

"Well good luck with that. He's practically waging war against the whole world." Said Umbra. "If he's still going, then he's tougher than old boots made out of titanium."

"Don't you count Ethan out." Warned Ember. "That never ends well. Trust me."

ProtoMan walked over. "Hello, Umbra. Can I still count on you, even if you're from another world?"

Umbra looked up. "Count on me?" She sighed deeply, head falling. "Count... count on me... you have no idea, do you? How you failed me! When I needed you most! I deleted you for it! If it weren't for you... Blaze would still be-!" Shadows started to loom behind her.

SteamMan pushed ProtoMan aside as the shadow rushed forwards, morphing into a fist. As it would touch him, it disintegrated. "...Stop, sister."

Umbra choked up. There was a long pause. "...Very well... out of... respect... for your sacrifice." She sat limply.

Arthur lay back. "Alright... give me a moment to come to my senses and we'll get back to the base. Is Lan safe? And... looks likr your binding is weakening. I guess it couldn't last forever."

"Yes." Confirmed SteamMan. "The base is well-defended. Even if they attacked now, while we're weakest, we'd be able to hold out for a long time."

"We can take a NetGaia link back to base at any time." Offered ProtoMan. "We were able to set up a separate network of links for this place."

"Oh, now that's good news. My legs are killing me."

* * *

Valerie had been resting against the floor for all of ten minutes when she suddenly sat up. "We have to leave, NOW!"

Treble was on his feet instantly. "What is it?!"

"Lots of rifts! And we're not up to another fight!" Valerie grabbed the shoe she hadn't put on, trying to jam it onto her foot.

Treble realised there were at least three rifts starting to open just in front of him. The exit was next to them, and he nearly jumped through it before catching himself, realising Valerie was hopping around trying to get her shoe on. "No time! Let's go!" Treble couldn't transform in such a small room, and scooped Valerie off the floor with his hands, much to her surprise, before jumping through the rift with her.

He hit the ground running, as Valerie looked behind them. "Look out! Cannon!"

Treble veered to the left, but you just don't have the same level of mobility when you're carrying someone. A blast from a cannon hit him in the back, but he had more than enough HP to survive. "Oof!" He stumbled a bit, threatening to drop Valerie, but she had enough sense to hang on. "You okay?"

"Just run!"

Treble sprinted. More rifts started to open in front of them, and Treble had to push himself to go even faster to try and get past them. "They're really pulling out all the stops! If only I could stop and transform I could carry you easily!"

"Keep going! We need to get away- I'll give directions!" Shouted Valerie. "LEFT!"

Treble skidded down an alleyway in time to avoid a wave of enemies dropping down in front of himself. And he ran.

* * *

They were on the run for almost thirty minutes. Finally, Treble petered down to a stop. "We lost them. Right?" He set Valerie down.

She wandered over to the side and hunched over. "...Bleh... That... that was not fun."

"But you're alive!"

"..." Valerie straightened out. "I've never been one to get travel sick. But... look, you didn't rip my jacket or anything with your claws? It's my favorite one..." She turned around.

"Don't worry! I didn't have my claws out." Treble peered at her jacket. A section was melted, like it had been cheap glue. The jacket was cloth. "Oh."

"Oh?" Questioned Valerie. "Nevermind. We had to get away."

"N-no, I... uh, your back feels okay right?" Stuttered Treble.

"Yeah."

"Phew... I bugged the jacket. Sorry. That... could have been you. I always worried about bugging Arthur when we were near, but it slipped out of my mind! I'm really sorry! I could have- I could have killed you!"

Valerie slipped off the jacket. "...Wow."

"I- I just-"

"Look- the alternative was just standing around. You got shot in back for me, anyway."

"Oh, that? Don't worry, I have loads of HP." Treble twisted to look at his back. "I can't even remember where it hit."

"Let's call it even. And besides... we've done everything we need to for now." Said Valerie proudly. "We meet Blaze here, and Lan is nearby. I'm sure of i-"

* * *

Arthur warped into the base. "I'm back, everyone!"

"Arthur!" Said Lan happily. "I've just gotten messages from everyone. I've set up communications to the outside world, thanks to Zero. I have one from your parents."

Arthur felt a rush of happiness. It had been a lonely few days. "Really? I hope they haven't been too upset..."

Lan scratched the back of his head. "Mayl wasn't too happy I got in all this trouble again, but it was great hearing from her. I think everything will be okay." He passed Arthur a digital message.

Arthur took his time to read every word.

'Arthur, we hope you're safe. We're so proud of you for doing what you can to help all your friends, and you can rest assured that we're rooting for you up on top- everyone up here is doing well, Wily's made a full recovery and we've been watching everything that happened through Zero. We don't know when you'll read this, but good luck, and please come back safely!'

"..." Arthur put a hand on his heart. "...Well. That's... that's..." He smiled. "I won't let them down."

"You got a nice letter?" Questioned Lan.

"The best." Confirmed Arthur. "If you'll give me a few minutes to recover, then I'll do anything you a-"

* * *

Blaze looked at the air and cursed. "Chroma, we need to hurry!"

"The trap? Is Valerie safe?!"

"...They're all caught- we have to move, now!"

 **Author's notes: And I'm back! Sorry to keep you guys waiting, but here's your next chapter and for what it's worth I think I nailed that test. Now back to my usual schedule of 'whenever'!**

 **Lucaura678: Ah, the wonders of being new and relatively incompetent at your job- thinking you're better than you are often leads to picking fights that are way out of your league. Thanks for the catch on the D, the college computers can be a bit iffy (typed it during lunch). Honestly, I think Arthur has reached his very best- he'll always seek understanding if he can. Truthfully we're near the end of the story for that reason, he doesn't have any more ways to really grow as a person.**

 **Guest: UltimateMaverickX. They're a youtube channel that made several high quality animations of particularly significant Mega Man fights, about ten years ago now? A lot of us grew up with them.**

 **TyrantChimera: Ah, renown like that is hard to come by. But I imagine it's nice to have. I'm glad that my fic has managed to stay fun for you!**


	63. Chapter 63: Preparation

The air was filled with sand. Arthur tried to move his eyes, and look around. But he couldn't. His eyes wouldn't move. His hands wouldn't move, even if they were still holding the letter. His legs wouldn't move. He could still see in front of himself, but all he could see was Lan, smiling and not moving. Still as a statue. What was going on?

Arthur realised he wasn't breathing either. He didn't feel like he was suffocating, but that scared him for a good three seconds before he realised nothing bad was happening. He just... wasn't breathing. And now that he focused on it, his heart wasn't beating either.

But he felt fine otherwise. Certainly not dead.

He tried to say something. 'Lan? What's happening?'. His mouth wouldn't move. So he stood silently for a few moments. He started trying to work out what had happened.

It took a few minutes. But he came to the conclusion that if he wasn't dead, and he couldn't do anything at all, then the only plausible explanation was that he was frozen in time. _Marvellous_. Now to think of a way out.

That could take a while.

* * *

Treble was trying to look around in panic, attempting to thrash against whatever was holding him still. Everthing was yellow and nothing made sense! He couldn't smell anything! Or move at all! And Valerie wasn't moving either! What was going on?!

He tried to shout for help, but couldn't even open his mouth.

And no matter how much force he tried to put into breaking whatever this was, his arms wouldn't even move. It was like they weren't even there.

Even his soul power, the one miracle cure he'd always been able to rely on in a pinch, wasn't helping him. It was already a bit burnt out from the fight earlier, but now it wasn't even responding. Considering it was meant to be a manifestation of his soul, that really was scary.

It was terrifying. An out-of-body experience where you were chained to your body.

And there was nothing Treble could do about it.

* * *

Arthur calmly observed what he could. Even if he couldn't move his eyes, he could still think- somehow. If this were a true time-stop, surely he wouldn't have been able to... wait.

Someone was coming into his field of vision.

Blue, mainly. Not MegaMan's blue. No, they were a dark blue, like the night sky. It was tough to make them out past all this floating sand, but... now that they were getting closer, he could make out something of their armor. It was a sort of plating, ridged and covering, but not particularly thick. But they had two distinguishing features, at least from here. Aside from their two normal arms, another, larger set rose from the back of their shoulders, holding two large, orb-shaped... somethings. He couldn't make it out.

And the tail. It wasn't like Treble or Gregar's. Thier tail was bulky, almost as thick as both thier legs. Arthur didn't get a good look for long, but the tip was distinctive enough to give away the motif this person had. Scorpion.

So this was... Arthur had to really rack his brains. They were just standing there, waiting. Making it possible to finally remember who this was. Scorpio Sand. One of The Save's higher-ups, from what little Arthur could remember.

So this was his doing. Arthur watched the sand hanging in the air, as Scorpio Sand waited. He realised Umbra was sitting quite close to the edge of this area of frozen time, assuming it ended by Scorpio. Maybe she could break free?

But then again, if she could've, she would have.

So Arthur simply observed patiently.

* * *

Blaze looked up at the air. She gritted her teeth. "Chroma, we have a problem."

"Tell me."

"...Another timeline has become empty."

"Another one? But why? What could cause this?"

Someone stepped up behind Blaze. "...I imagine it's our enemy. Are you ready to attack?"

"Are you? You're not that well-protected."

"I can hold my own, Aegis or not. We would never allow each other to become helpless." Said Nobody. "The world will be protected from the threat of Mu- That is the will of Aegis."

"...Okay, Chroma. Let's burn this guy to the ground."

"Agreed."

"Wave change! Blaze Kazuhaya, on. The. Air!" Blaze held up a hand, and light blue flame wrapped her for just a few moments. It receded into her to reveal Valor. At least, they resembled Valor. The draconic armour wasn't as elaborate, and didn't seem quite as sturdy. And the stance they held, while proper and effective, didn't have the experienced aura Valerie's had. Nonetheless, it was impressive.

"A textbook shift." Admitted Nobody. "Despite the small mismatch in frequency. Let us strike now, while Chroma still has energy."

Valor jumped through a rift, Nobody in tow.

* * *

ScorpioSand's immediate reaction to Valor and Nobody coming through the open rift was to activate his final time trap. The flow of time itself stilled around Valor and her foe, halting them before they could even touch the floor. All too easy.

He walked over slowly. Time was on his side.

"Blaze Kazuhaya." He drawled, looking at the frozen shifted. "How could so knowledgeable a girl make so amatuer a mistake? You surely could have seen that I would freeze you the moment you set foot here. I've known this is your base for weeks." He looked up, internally disappointed that his monologue was wasted on deaf ears.

Valor grinned. Even with her helmet covering her face, it was the biggest, widest, most insulting grin humanly possible. It had a smugness so thick some people would have flipped a table in anger by entering the room it was in.

It took ScorpioSand a moment to realise the grin hadn't been there when Valor had been trapped. And then his time-stop on her failed.

"How?!" Scorpio Sand jumped back, trying to put distance between himself and a girl who had just literally demonstrated control over time.

"Trade secret." Said Valor. "Now let my friends go! And stop messing with time!"

"Why should I? Even if you SOMEHOW broke out my time trap, I'm more than a match for you like this! Chroma isn't your wizard!"

Nobody walked forwards, holding himself a careful stance. "You. Are nothing compared to either me or a guardian. Surrender now."

"I'll not surrender to the likes of you! I'm going to realise my dreams... I'll become the strongest FM-ian in all of time! Even what's sealed by the Andromeda key will pale before me! You think I'm nothing? Allow me..."

Suddenly, he stabbed forwards with his tail, the barb viciously jabbing the air Valor had been in a split second ago. "To reveal your mistake!" He grabbed forwards with one of his shoulder pincers, and Valor punched , meeting it with a quick blast of air. He tried to crush down on Valor's hand with it, and Nobody punched it, releasing the grip. The fight was on.

Arthur watched as the floor all around Scorpio turned to quicksand, Valor struggling to step forwards but pushing on, while Scorpio started to move around, unhindered.

Nobody was light on his feet, bouncing on his heels. Scorpio went for him, as the more exposed target than the heavy-armored dragon. He turned away a pincer with his bare hand, and then drove his palm straight into Scorpio's mask, to no effect. But Valor grabbed Scorpio with her claws and heaved, throwing him away like a pebble, and then she tried to run after him, sand bogging her down.

Scorpio opened his pincers, and a few bolts of light shot out. Nobody jumped out of the way, but bogged down and already using a wizard that didn't have a lot of mobility Valor tried to block the oncoming projectiles with her arms, as one hit her. She froze in time for a few moments, but then broke free again, and started marching forward through the sand.

They started to duel at close range, but even at his distance Arthur could see things weren't going well for Blaze. She didn't have the experience she neeeded to beat this foe. She punched hard, but her guard had too many holes to exploit, those pincers grazing her more than they should. Then that tail struck, catching her in the stomach. Valor staggered back, as Scorpio Sand prepared to finish her, slowly raising his arms as sand began to rise up around her feet, threatening to engulf her beneath the floor.

And Nobody stepped in and decisively punched him in the face. His hand-to-hand was honed to perfection, and he seemed to shout something to Valor.

Valor picked herself out of the sand that thad dropped back to the floor, and then reverted to Blaze, holding her hairpin. She ran towards the time stop. What was she doing?

She held the hairpin like a tiny dagger, and stabbed it into the frozen sands. Arthur was aware that ever so slowly, time started to move around where the pin had touched. Arthur was too far into the field to move at all, but he could see the sands of time starting to move, and fade out...

Blaze ducked as a bolt of energy nearly caught her, and Nobody went stumbling back into the time-stop. He didn't freeze, but there was only so much you could do if you literally couldn't damage your enemy. The floor below them was starting to turn into sand, and thier back were against the wall. Scorpio Sand was closing in.

Arthur was starting to panic. There was no way out of this. They couldn't move through the sand fast enough to escape. They couldn't even damage Scorpio Sand without EM waves or a navi. And the time trap wasn't dispelled, neither he nor Lan could do anything. And then Nobody flung his jacket straight into Scorpio's face, blinding him for a moment before he jumped on, trying to wrestle with the enemy. Blaze was startled for a moment and turned, stabbing again and again with her hairpin.

Arthur looked, trying to see more, and then he felt a shot of fear. Blaze was trying to break the time stop to free Ember, and use her to win the fight.

But it wasn't Ember by the edge. It was Umbra.

The sands of time finally started flowing normally again, just as Nobody was thrown a good ten metres, his long jacket ripping in half. Scorpio got up, and started to walk towards Blaze, who was holding her PET. She was saying something. She was trying to command Umbra. Umbra was bound, but she stood up, and Arthur could see her starting to flicker and flare with dark power. Treble's bonds had already been weak, and seeing the one person she'd been desperate to talk to get attacked seemed to have been the tipping point. With a great yank, she broke her bonds, the data dissipating as the darkpower suddenly blossomed into a black shadow around her, LunaCross systematically appearing around her body and mask sliding down.

Blaze looked uncertainly, but then put in some chips.

Umbra melted into shadows, as the darkness almost became physical. A huge red fist soared out of nowhere and slammed into Scorpio, and then a flaming wyrm descended and crashed into the floor around him, breaking it and blowing the sands away. If it didn't get the message across that Umbra was pissed, then she made it extra clear by reappearing holding a pair of MoonBlade kunai that she proceeded to stab into Scorpio before she kneed him with a blade hard enough to kick herself into the air, coming down holding a DarkSword and driving it into Scorpio, his armour likely preventing him dying outright as he frantically used his escape charm.

Umbra turned to Blaze. She didn't put her mask up, or drop LunaCross. Arthur could only watch as Blaze talked.

* * *

Treble saw Blaze come into view, waving her hairpin around like an aerosol. He kept struggling, and to his relief it actually started to work, as his arms began to move. It was at this point he realised it was Blaze helping him.

"Blaze!" He tried to call, but the sound was slowed down to a mess. Blaze just smiled, and kept waving her hairpin around.

It took another few seconds, but then all at once the yellow- wait, the sand, disappeared.

Treble narrowly avoided slapping Valerie by accident. "Blaze! What just happened?!"

Valerie patted herself down. "What was that?"

Blaze put her hairpin back in. "That was someone abusing the secrets of Mu. You guys are okay, right?"

"Just fine! Where's Arthur? Did you find him? And Flare! How's Flare?" Asked Treble quickly.

"Slow down a touch?" Said Valerie. "...Anyhow, I'm okay gran. Thanks for the assist."

'Sssth...'

"You guys come with me." Said Blaze brightly. "Arthur's making soup."

* * *

"Blaze?! What's HE doing here?!" Shouted Valerie, as soon as she got close to the base.

The base was a couple of caravans that someone might stay in if they went on holiday. Nobody was sitting on the steps leading up to one of the doors, arm in a sling. "Ah, Aegis. Apologies for my failures."

'Sssth...'

Blaze shrugged. "Oh, we worked together a bit. Do or die. I still don't know how much I trust him- but I can at least forgive him, since he's saved all our lives at this point. And he broke his arm for me."

"It's just a fracture." Said Arthur. "There won't even be permanent bone weakness, and it'll heal on it's own in a week or two. Still, painful."

"Y-you fractured your arm? What happened?" Valerie walked over.

"Oh, it was just... well, an awkward landing really. It's nothing." Nobody said easily. "Heh, I'd hardly be a good candidate for Aegis if something like this could stop me."

"Are we just gonna trust him? This doesn't seem like a good plan." Said Valerie.

"...Yeah, we are." Said Blaze, before looking at Nobody. "Although you do still owe us that explanation for running off when we needed you."

"It was a lost battle. Better to retreat and come back once I was needed. And it gave me a valuable chance to see if you'd use the secrets." Shrugged Nobody. "That's all."

"...I didn't expect better." Said Valerie. "Welp. Anyway, what did I miss, you guys?"

"Oh, I've been travelling with Chroma!" Said Blaze. "I know our wavelengths aren't exactly the same, but they're just close enough that we could pull off a wave change. We defeated VoodooMan for good! And I've come to understand Nobody a little better. I still don't agree with his actions, but I think I can at least allow him near us."

"And considering how she was before, that's something, right?" Said Ember, stoking the tiny fire Arthur was cooking on.

"Hey, I already relented. It's okay. You can have your crazy guy." Valerie put her hands up sarcastically. "Arthur, did you get rescued?"

"Yeah, I landed with Ember and Umbra. And then had a bit of panic when I couldn't find any water. ProtoMan and SteamMan came and rescued me, and then we got trapped by Scorpio Sand. Oh by the way, Umbra really wanted to talk to Blaze about something, but I don't know what..."

"And you never will." Said Umbra.

"And I had Treble and Aegis. You know, I've never seen a wizard just fight solo, but Aegis doesn't mess around... Anyway, we beat Bit-Byte, and this Navi called ClockMan, but he said he was going to go and bother MegaMan instead, so, sorry?"

Lan sat up at the mention of ClockMan. "I remember him! He kidnapped Roll and this girl called Sonia a looong time ago, and I worked with Geo to delete him! That's how I know Geo."

"...Oh." Said Valerie.

"Hey Val, you haven't met the others, have you?" Said Blaze. "There's Zero, ProtoMan, and SteamMan." She pointed to each one in turn.

"Oh, so he's who we've been talking to. I like the hair thing he's got going on, but ProtoMan's is much smoother." She observed.

"So the plan for now is to rescue Ethan. That's all there is left to do." Said Arthur, as he stirred the bowl in front of him. "Of course, I don't know how, but I'll still stay around and make sure you can put your time into finding a way to save him. Housekeeping's on me."

"Yeah. There's a laptop in one of the caravans and our Navis can supply some electricity, so I can code anything we need. Blaze, you're the expert on dimensions." Said Lan.

"I don't know if I'd call myself an expert..." Blaze looked to Zero. "Zero, you still have communications to the outside world, right?"

"Yes." Confirmed Zero.

"There's a lot to sort out over the next few days." Said Arthur. "For now, come and have some soup." He spooned some into a bowl, and offered it to Valerie.

* * *

The first day at the base went by all too fast as everyone settled in. Beds were assigned, cupboards were stocked, the navis were organised into a guard, and one of the walls ended up covered in marker pen as Lan and Blaze brainstormed ways to cross the dimensional barrier.

Umbra was the one to make a good suggestion, though. "Log me out. I should return to Beyondard. Then trace me. DarkPower is distinctive."

"..." Ember looked at her double. "And what will you do when you're there?"

Blaze smiled. "She'll rescue Ethan. I know I'm not your Blaze, but if we were the same then I know I'd want to help him."

"And if your dark side says no, then I'm sure he has plenty of enemies to delete by your description!" Added Treble.

"Hmm." Umbra turned.

* * *

The second day, everyone got down to business. While Blaze and Valerie were hard at work trying to pinpoint Ethan's timestream and a way to access it, Treble was next to Aegis.

"So you know that disarming thing you did? How does that work? Like, a sword just has a straight edge, so how did you get such a grip on Bit-Byte?"

"...Physics. His... sword... pressed at... an angle... near... impossible... to hold."

"Ohhh. So, you're saying I can get better disarms by pulling in awkward directions?"

"Yes."

Ember and Chroma were watching another point.

"So, in the future, you do what I do. Protect a Kazuhaya." Said Ember. "I hope you're good enough to take care of Blaze's kid."

"I'm sure there's a few generations in between Blaze and Valerie, right? I'm not an expert on humans. Anyway, we haven't been defeated yet. Tell me, Ember? Where can we find you, in the future? Valerie's really hoping she can stay in touch, but that's impossible for Blaze."

"...I don't know. We chose a life where we'd fight the good fight. And the problem is... that's a dangerous fight. I might be gone by 22XX. But if I'm not, then I'll come and find you the day you're out of the rift! When did you two get drawn in?"

"...Hmm... The day was a Thursday. Thursday, October the twelfth."

"Hey, you're gonna get a Friday the thirteenth AND halloween in one month!" Said Ember. "Does Valerie like trick or treating? Blaze loves it, even if she's getting a bit old she goes out every year."

"...What? I'm not familiar with human traditions. I'll ask her, I suppose."

"Hey, do you guys have traditions wherever you're from?" Asked Ember. "I bet an alien festival would be really cool!"

"...Not many... we celebrated if the occasion called for it, but you seem to have a lot more parties." Mused Chroma.

"What's it like? Do you play music? Dance? Party games?"

"We sometimes watch combat- we pride ourselves on fighting ability. It's a warrior culture, but not a savage one."

"Oh, you'd get along with Treble and Gregar. Those two live and breathe battle. Go see them about it sometime, I'm sure you'd have a lot to talk about."

* * *

The second day was when Arthur could only be bewildered as Blaze put through a call to Chaud.

"Okay, Chaud. I've worked out some important stuff. To get Ethan back, I'm going to need some scientific data. Perfect down to the actual movement and behaviour of each atom, data for iron, mercury, beryllium, molybdenum, and radon. It has to be absolutely, perfectly, true-to-life, and I need a kilogram of each. Okay?"

"Blaze, you're aware data of that quality is very expensive. You need to be absolutely sure whatever you're planning will work."

"...I am." Said Blaze seriously.

"Very well. I'll gather them immediately. I trust you'll be okay without ProtoMan down there?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, SteamMan's got us. Tell Big bro I love him."

"She loves you." Said Chaud, to the side of the camera. "He's right here, you know. Should I put him on?"

"Yeah!"

"Hey sis. I know it's been a while, but everyone's still here and we're cheering you on! Oh yeah, and I ate your banana bread. It was getting stale."

"Burn, you piggy! That was my banana bread!" Protested Blaze, smiling all the while.

Valerie looked at the two. "Hey Chroma, remind me to get that recipie off her."

Later, Blaze grabbed Treble.

"Treble, I need you to do something for me." Said Blaze, deadly serious.

"Um, yeah? What is it?"

"I need you to make absolutely sure, beyond any doubt at all, that there is no kind of listening device or peeping hole in this room." Said Blaze, dragging Treble into the bedroom she shared with Valerie. Both beds were on their sides against the wall, to make room for an anvil, a huge frying pan, and a big desk.

"What are you doing in here?!" Said Treble.

"I'm going to make something." Said Blaze.

"...You're..."

"Yes. It's the only way to get through that barrier around Astral Loop." Said Blaze. "I don't know how I'm going to break it to Aegis, but he'll have to understand that the only thing that can get through that barrier is..."

"...Is?"

Blaze looked to one side. "...Let's just call it Mu Metal. Can you keep this room safe for us?"

Treble started sniffing around. "I'm pretty sure it's not getting spyed on by any programs. Now, if I were a peeping hole, where would I be...?" He peeled the carpet up, finding nothing. "Hey, does this mean your hairpin is Mu Metal? Is that how it broke through all the time stuff?"

"...Yes. Truth be told, this hairpin is worth more than the combined total of every zenny on earth in my hands. But to you, it would just be a hairpin."

"Weird. But it helps us, right? It's gonna bring back Flare?"

"Yes. I can promise that." Blaze looked at the hairpin in apprehension.

"Then it's worth everything to me where it is." Said Treble decisively.

A few hours passed before ProtoMan returned, carrying a case of data.

Blaze took it carefully. "Alright, guys... make sure I'm not disturbed. Valerie, come with me."

"...You... are... going to make..." Started Aegis, visible for once.

"Don't say it here." Warned Blaze. "I'm going to make it from data. As soon as it leaves this dimensional area, it will be destroyed by itself."

Aegis nodded, and turned to Valerie. "Once... you accept... this... burden... I... will... have no choice..."

"You will have a choice. I can only promise I'll not use it unless there is very literally no other option but earth's destruction." Said Valerie. "And anyway, you've been trying to kill me for the last few months. It's not like I won't be used to what's going to follow."

"...We shall... have to see." Aegis faded out.

Over the next hour, Arthur felt uncomfortable. Valerie had more than likely just accepted the secrets of Mu, to Aegis' face. She was working with Blaze to USE them at this exact moment- what else could such random elements be for? She was putting herself in terrible danger. "...Aegis, can you hear me?"

"...Yes."

"You're really going to try and kill her after this?"

"I'm... not sure. I must... not allow... such power... to have... even... the... smallest chance... to... be misused."

"But right now you're letting them use it."

"It is... necessary."

"I see. Is there nothing I can do to convince you to leave her alone?"

"No. There are but... two guardians in... my time. Solo, and now... Valerie. We are inescapably destined... to fight."

"Then I hope you will at least be honorable." Said Arthur. "For whatever effect words can have."

"...I have... always..."

Chroma, MegaMan and Ember, meanwhile, were standing by Lan as he wrote code.

"What're you doing?" Asked Chroma as MegaMan held out his buster, and then caused the sides to fold out and in once.

"Blaze asked us to make a modification to Ember. I guess it has something to do with all those chemicals she ordered?" Lan tapped out a few more bars.

"She wouldn't tell me anything..." Grumbled Chroma. "In fact, she didn't tell Valerie much either."

"That's good. It means that even if our enemy managed to spy on us, we'd still have this as a surprise weapon." Said Ember. "They can't stop what they don't see coming."

"Ember, I'm going to need you to detach your blades and pass them here. And which one is the damaged one?" Asked Lan.

Ember took a moment to seperate the programs from her body, looking far simpler without them. "This one. You can tell by the red glow on the back here."

"Okay then, so if I... yeah..."

A few minutes passed.

There was a clatter as Blaze kicked her bedroom door off it's hinges, Treble jumping in surprise.

Blaze stepped outside, holding something behind her back. "Okay! We're done! Now I'm ready to rescue Ethan- and take on Astral Loop."

Nobody walked over. "...You used them."

"Well duh." Said Blaze. "That barrier was only vulnerable to the secrets."

"But now Valerie knows..."

"Yep." Said Valerie.

"I... see. I never wanted to kill you, Valerie." Said Nobody. "Just... nevermind. I'm sorry I sent you down this path."

"Little late for that." Said Valerie. "But hold off on trying to kill me until we're out of here?"

"I- still don't want to! It's just that Aegis..." Nobody shook his head.

"Blaze, is that..?" Arthur looked as she took out a long, thin rod of metal. It looked like polished steel, but even looking at it Arthur knew it was something special. The air around it thrummed with an ethereal, eldritch power.

"This... is my magic wand!" Announced Blaze. The rod was around a metre long, a bit much for a wand. "And with it, I'm gonna rescue Ethan. Then smack it into Astral Loop to break his barrier."

"And... then... destroy it... yes?"

"Don't worry. If there's something we can agree on, this shouldn't be allowed into the world." Said Blaze.

"My modifications are finished. We can activate them once they're needed." Called Ember.

"Perfect! Okay then, in that case I just need to work with Lan to destabilise the fabric of reality on Beyondard. Well, more than Bass already did. Then we can message Ethan. Chop chop! Let's go!"

Everyone was watching as Lan and Blaze worked on thier code to open a rift. To the extent that Arthur had ended up having to get everyone out of the room so they could focus.

It took hours. Arthur could only imagine the complexity of safely tearing a hole in the fabric of reality.

"Hey Arthur." Said Valerie.

"Hm?"

"What if Ethan... what if he..." Valerie tapped her fingers together.

"He's not hurt, is he?" Asked Arthur.

"Oh no, not that! Just, what if he wants to stay in that world?"

"...Hm. Never considered that, since he's been fighting for his life in it since he got there."

"He has made friends... and... well, I can't be sure, but I think he's changing that world for the better. What are you going to do if he asks to stay? He seems like he wouldn't leave a job unfinished, after all."

"...I'll wait for him." Said Arthur. "Or maybe Blaze can fast-forwards to whenever he can come back."

"And if he wants to stay forever?"

"...Then Flare would be torn between staying with him or Treble. And me and Treble couldn't go ourselves for the sake of our other friends and family... But... well, I guess it would be Treble's choice what to do. If he wanted to go with Flare I wouldn't stop him, but I don't know if I can abandon everyone I know. They'd all be heartbroken... But I... Hmph. This is a tough question. I don't know if I could choose either side without regretting it for the rest of my life."

"..." Valerie nodded. "...How's the portal coming along, anyway? You brought them lunch, so you must know!"

"I inherited two things from my father. I'm an honest, hardworking man, and I have the coding skill of a pidgeon." Said Arthur. "Although at least I can use technology well nowadays. I suppose everything can change."

"So, you have no idea?"

"None at all."

And more hours passed.

The hours turned into a full day.

And another.

And then, everyone burst into the caravan when Blaze shouted. "GOT IT!"

"You did it?!" Said Valerie.

"We're ready to open a stable, safe rift between Beyondard and this world, at any location and point in time of all Beyondard." Said Lan. "Took a bit of coding!"

"So I shall return." Said Umbra plainly. She'd hardly spoken the last few days.

"As soon as you're ready." Confirmed Blaze. "...Anything you'd like to talk about? This... this will be the last ime you see me. I wish it could be different."

"...I am sorry for losing sight of what you stood for, in the darkness." Said Umbra. "I worry... how will I stay strong enough to hold it back without you?"

"..." Blaze put a hand on Umbra's shoulder. "I'm always with you. And I'm not saying that just to be dramatic or anything."

Ember walked up. "Before you go back, I want to give you something."

"Me?"

Ember put a hand on her chest, and when she took it away she was holding an orb. "Take this. I haven't had it for long, but I won't be able to use it in my final battle."

Umbra took the orb. "This is..."

"See if you can find a cool combo attack between the Sun and Moon for me." Said Ember.

"Hey, uh, I can give you something too." Offered Treble. "If you want, I could just seal your powers. You could take the seal off at any time, but it would stop you letting all your darkness out until you're ready. Give you an easy few days. Might dissolve then, though. And you could take it off early."

"Hm. I DO need to move my arms and legs, you understand?"

"Don't worry! I could put it on now, and you could take it off anytime."

"...Very well. It couldn't hurt."

"Stand back, guys!" Said Treble. Everyone cleared out around him, and he held a hand forwards. It flickered a bit, and then burned with purple fire before a pair of bracelets appeared on Umbra's wrists. "Just pull them off to unseal your power."

"Right. Ah, that has cleared my head quite well..." Umbra smiled. She actually smiled. "SteamMan... ProtoMan. I've been avoiding you, these last few days. I was an idiot for that. I wasted my only chance to apologise."

"Apologise for what?" Said SteamMan.

"In Beyondard, both of you were deleted by me. SteamMan, you bought time for everyone to escape after I sealed Nebula Grey inside myself. I didn't realise what I'd done until..."

"I don't hold anything against you. DarkPower is a terrible thing. And I always wanted to go out in a heroic sacrifice anyway!" Reassured SteamMan. "Burn's still okay, too?"

"He's one of the commanding officers in the resistance, last I heard. You bought humanity hope. I'm so sorry I was never a part of it..."

"No worries. You're going to fix it. I know you, Ember." Said SteamMan.

"And you, ProtoMan. during that fight, I nearly deleted you, too. You were left for deleted, and Falzar's forces captured you. You became her most powerful ally, and we fought so often-"

"If I became a threat to humanity, then I am glad I was deleted. If you did that for me, then thank you. That is all." Said ProtoMan. "...If I could ask one thing of you... then please carry on protecting humanity. That is the official duty."

"Yes, sir."

"...Okay, let's do this. Ready? Opening communications to Ethan!" Blaze held up her wand.

Zero perked up. "Ethan. Calling Ethan, do you read me?"

There was a tense moment. "...Zero? How did you find me here?! Wait... are you... you're MY Zero?!"

"Ethan!" Cheered everyone.

"Ethan, this is Zero from your world!" Said Zero. "I'm here with Blaze, Lan, Arthur, everyone! We're ready to open a rift and bring you back!"

"R-really..? This is so sudden..." Ethan sounded shocked, even if his voice was a little distorted.

"How are things down there?" Shouted Blaze.

"Th-they're good... I'm bringing hope to this world. I'm going to take on the cybeasts! I have a plan!" Said Ethan. "I can't leave yet! This world needs me!"

"Don't worry. We understand." Said Valerie. "I always knew you weren't the sort to leave a job unfinished."

"Tell Alisha I love her! And Myles! Baryl and Wily too! And... and everyone! I haven't seen them in three months!"

"Three months..." Whispered Arthur. "Looks like he's been down there longer than us..."

"I will. I promise." Said Zero.

"Ethan, who are you talking to?" Arthur recognised the new voice.

"Gregar, it's Zero! OUR Zero! They're on the line! Everyone is!"

"FLAAARE!" Shouted Gregar.

There was a pause. "What is it?"

"We have a chance to talk to the others. They found a way." Said Gregar simply.

"Treble?"

"Flare! It's been so long! I've missed you so much! Are you alright, Flare?!" Treble nearbly grabbed Zero, voice wavering.

"I'm okay! It's been a tough few months, but we're saving a world. A whole world! Treble, is everyone alright up there?"

"Yes! Everyone is!"

"Let SheepMan know I'm safe, okay? And Zoano!"

"I will! I swear I will! Flare, I've said it before but..." Treble took a breath. "I love you! Please come back safely!"

"I love you too. But I... I can't come back quite yet. I have to put things right in this world."

"I'll come and help you!"

"...You can't. Arthur would have to come too... and he can't be safe like Ethan." Said Flare.

"You can still help." Said Blaze. "Ethan, you can't come back to us yet, right?"

"...Right. I have to see this through."

"Well, even if we can't come through permanently because we'd be in too much danger, we can still help!" Said Blaze. "I can open a rift of any size, at any time. Even if we can't send our navis through, we could send something... I could shoot a laser through. We'll be your supporting firepower!"

"...Sweet. This does make everything a bit easier." Said Ethan.

"I'm going to skip through your whole time there over the next day, then bring you back." Said Blaze. "In the meantime, if you need us- just call. We're all behind you."

"Yeah! Even if I can't come through for long I'll for you!"

"We can't operate without leaving a rift open, is all. So we can't send navis to fight." Said Lan. "Sorry..."

"No no, anything is good!"

"One last thing, then..." Said Blaze. "I have got one new ally for you."

"Hello there, Ethan." Said Umbra. "I will serve you, now."

"Is that Ember? I thought you couldn't send Navis through without coming yourself or being unable to operate them?"

"I am Umbra. You may remember me."

Flare spoke. "...I do. I thought you were deleted after I pushed you off a cliff."

"I was pulled into this world and tricked into fighting. Blaze has reminded me where my loyalties lie. Ready?"

"Ready." Said Ethan. "Open the gates!"

"Everyone apart from Umbra, out of the room!" Instructed Blaze. "I don't want to send anyone there by accident!"

Outside the caravan, Arthur could only hear the sound of a portal opening and closing.

 **Author's notes: Even when super-compressing the passage of time in the chapter, it ended up being REALLY long. We're gearing up for Blaze's final showdown soon.**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: Glad you've enjoyed it. Although what circuits has it made outside favs? Where? I'm curious.**


	64. Chapter 64: Return

Treble didn't hesitate to grab ProtoMan. "Chaud, can you take Flare's message to SheepMan?"

"Easy there." Said ProtoMan. "...Yes, we can handle it. We'll notify Ethan's relatives too."

"Thanks a bunch!"

"Don't bug me, for crying out loud." ProtoMan slipped out of Treble's grasp, and logged out.

"Alright guys, let's get ready to support Ethan." Annouced Blaze. "I don't know what he'll ask for and when, but thanks to time mastery I'll get it to him exactly when he needs it!"

"...Question." Said Nobody. "Why not just attack every enemy he has at once? It would take us a while to fire all that, but it would work and they could do nothing, because we could make everything hit in the same second."

"Because we're not trying to cause any damage to that world, and we don't want to kill people who're innocent. One or two well-timed blasts will be all we need. Ethan knows to wait until he needs one." Said Blaze easily. "Val, come with me. We need to check over his timeline. It'll take about a day, guys. You can, um, start planning our attack on The Save's base."

"Without any information."

"Come on, Val! I'll help." Lan grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the caravan that didn't have Blaze scrolling through Ethan's time.

Arthur looked at Nobody. "What are your plans? Your arm will need several more days to heal, and waiting puts us in danger. It might be for the best if you leave this to us. I can vouch for Blaze's trustworthiness if you're worried about time."

"...I owe it to Aegis to carry out his will- even in times of hardship. If he wishes me to march on their base, I won't complain."

"...May I ask a question? You didn't answer it before. I'm pretty sure you avoided it. But... what's your relationship to Aegis?"

"..." Nobody looked to the side. "It would not be proper for me to reveal such information. I... need to tell Valerie first. Then she can decide what to do."

"Are you... her father?"

"No. A good guess, but no. Now, let's talk about something else. I refuse to be pressed for my secrets."

Treble ran over. "Hi guys! Ember told me to find somewhere that was a safe distance from this place to fire VanishingWorld. Can you help?"

"Of course." Arthur looked around. The caravans were in a grassy field, without any obstructions that could block the destructive blast of force generated by VanishingWorld. "Hmm... Looks like we'll be relying purely on distance. Let's find the furthest point from the base."

"Head on a bearing of 110." Said Nobody automatically. "We've scouted this place thoroughly."

"...Thanks." Said Arthur. "...Hey, look, about Valerie... I know you don't want to kill her, but you don't want to betray Aegis. So... just talk to him about it. I'm sure, that at least nothing bad will come from that, okay?"

"...Do not presume to know my troubles."

"I never did. I just know that this will not make things worse. Sorry if I sound a bit... stuck up." Said Arthur sheepishly.

"Don't dwell on this. Focus on setting up your weapon, whatever it is." Dismissed Nobody.

"Heh, you heard him. Let's go, Arthur! You've done your bit, it's up to him now." Said Treble certainly. "C'mon! I need to go get ready to help out everyone on Beyondard. They'll call soon!"

Arthur wanted to say more. He nearly turned and did. But if Treble thought that he needed to be left be, then Arthur could respect that. And it wasn't likely he'd talk to Aegis while they were there, anyway. "Alright, so let's aim away from our base so if everything goes wrong then we don't hit them."

"Okie dokie!" Treble shifted into his transformed state.

"...Hmm..." Arthur looked through his PET. "Zero, hello?"

"I hear you."

"Call me once Blaze is ready to open a rift. Then we'll fire into it."

"Acknowledged. Where are you right now? MegaMan is coming over to provide extra firepower." Said Zero, voice perfectly clear now.

"We're in one of the corners... Uh... head away from the caravans from the back of the one Blaze is inside."

"Roger!" Called through someone. Arthur took a moment to recognise it as Lan.

"Hey, Lan? I should warn you there's going to be a LOT of recoil from our attack. Are you sure you can do anything without getting floored?"

"Don't worry! We're just going to set up some Reflectors is a sort of dish. They'll help contain the blast a little bit, and they can also throw out some extra damage."

"...How are you going to set them up? They can't just hang in the air, right?"

"Yeah they can! Just normally that command is useless. They can be knocked over, after all."

"...Alright." Arthur put away the Zero camera. "Treble, I'm going to get to a safe distance. Careful you don't bug Lan now, okay?"

"OKAY! BE BACK WITH YOU SOON!"

Arthur walked back to the base.

* * *

"Blaze, how are we progressing?"

"Ethan's been in there for five months." Said Blaze, as she ran through scenes on her computer. "Zero has a camera with him, and it's reporting to me. I think he'll call soon..."

"Five months..."

"Crazy, right?" Said Blaze. "I... it almost sounds fun! Getting to explore a ruined planet, and unite all humanity to defeat the evils that threaten it."

"But the danger... Surely you understand how-"

"Yep. But we made it through this danger. I know what I'd be getting into down there! And I know it would be exciting." Blaze brushed her hair out of the way. "Terrifying, and really sad at times. I know that, too... but it would really be a life worth living."

"..." Arthur nodded. "I can't imagine it, myself. I fought for peace because I didn't want to experience war."

"Welp. You got through this okay." Said Blaze. "Any scars apart from the one on your shoulder?"

"...No, not really. This cloak got trashed, and my jacket and shorts too, but otherwise I think I'm good. Nothing that won't heal. It could easily have been so much worse."

"Yeah, I guess... Although you were kind of screwed over, not being able to use your navi for protection."

"...I wouldn't have swapped him for anyone else."

"Never would ask you to." Blaze started flicking through more of Ethan's time. She paused. "Ah, maybe a few days from there... Hey Arthur, something else, too. I just want your opinion. I can trust you not to spread anything about."

"Go ahead."

Blaze put a hand in her pocket, and took out her hairpin. "...It's about my artifact. Valerie doesn't have one, and she'll need it more than me..."

"If you're asking me whether or not you should give it to her, then you're asking the wrong person, if I'm honest." Said Arthur, trying to be honest. "Valerie is the one who'd be impacted by that decision. Not me."

"...Right. But say you were in my position. If something like this happened again, then you'd be without your artifact to do anything about it." Said Blaze.

"...Can't you make more of this... Mu Metal?"

"..." Blaze looked around. "...Well..." She looked at the hairpin. 'You need it to make it.' She mouthed.

"Well... an era of peace is about to begin at home. And maybe it would be for the best if you didn't have this artifact so as not to attract attention. Zero wouldn't tell a soul, I think he's even been deleting his memories relating to this, but after we emerge I imagine we'll be under public scrutiny for a little bit. How long has it been up top?"

"Oh, about two months? Three?" Said Blaze. "...Yeah. Only found out myself an hour ago."

"Our families know we're safe though."

"Yeah! That's the silver lining to this. I'm going to go forwards a bit. Check if they're ready to fire?"

Arthur took out his PET, getting a view of Treble. "Is everything ready?"

"JUST GIVE ME THE WORD! I'LL SHOW THEM A THING OR TWO!"

"He's ready." Said Arthur.

Blaze flicked forwards. "...Any moment now..."

A minute passed. Zero burst into the room, holding up a screen to Blaze.

Ethan was holding a camera, as winds blew. Arthur was stricken by how he looked. His suit was adorned with advanced wiring and technology, but also different. The sleeves were cut down to half their initial lengths, and his arm had a ring of scarring where the fabric started on the left. He was somehow immaculately shaven and sported a perfect, almost celebrity hairstyle, making Arthur a little conscious of his own stubble and poof of head fur. "I'm calling Arthur, do you read me?" He shouted over the wind.

"I read you! Shall we fire?"

"Yes! Aim dead ahead!"

"Here goes! Opening a rift! Good Luck, Ethan!" Said Blaze, as she placed her hands on her rod of Mu Metal.

"You guys are all the luck I need! Now, fire!"

Arthur looked out of the window to see a giant hole open up in front of Treble. Arthur clicked in a program advance. "Treble, now! For Flare!"

"FOR FLARE!" Growled Treble, as light started building in his throat.

Ethan cut his video feed, turning away from the camera. Arthur looked out of the window, and watched Treble charge up the attack, rapidly building it.

A thunderous, bone-rattling howl echoed from Treble. Arthur cringed at the sound involuntarily, his base instincts telling him this was not something to be too near to. Or even in direct line of sight of. Arthur ducked down.

The blast nearly toppled the caravan. Arthur's side was lifted a full two metres into the air, before it bumped down. Blaze scrambled to stop the laptop dropping onto the floor. Arthur fell across the room, bumping into the sofa before the caravan came crashing down with a thud.

"...Oomph." Said Arthur, on his back in the corner. Blaze set the laptop down with a sigh of relief.

"Closing rift in three... two..." She looked down at Arthur and raised an eyebrow. "One... boop."

Arthur gave a thumbs up.

* * *

"All that's left is to bring them back now, yes?" Said Zero, an hour later.

"Yes." Said Blaze. "I've super-double-triple checked. His adventure there has come to an end, and it's time we got him back here."

"Nice! Let's get the portal open, then." Said Valerie.

"Watch closely, Val." Blaze held her wand, and twirled it in front of herself. The air rippled a bit.

Valerie looked, and suddenly drooped. "...This is all going to be over soon."

"Hopefully." Said Nobody. "Time is not something that can be placed at risk."

"...I know, I know. But I finally got to meet a living family member." Said Valerie. "I never cared- heck I never KNEW about this guardian stuff. I just wanted to have some family. I know my father's out there somewhere, but I couldn't find him. Maybe I never will. So..."

Blaze nodded, as she carefully drew a pattern with her wand. "We'll remember each other though! I'll be a burning beacon of strength in your mind. If times get tough, remember me, Val. Alright, now it gets delicate..."

"You opened a way larger rift instantly earlier." Said Arthur. "What's so special about this one?"

Blaze jabbed her wand forwards, and then swept it out. "This one is going to be much more stable. The earlier one just had to hold up for like ten seconds. I'll give this one ten minutes. Aaand... ping!" She tapped the floor.

A purple rift opened, with neat round sides and a distinct lack of any kind of crackling energy or chaotic power.

"Hiya Ethan!" Shouted Blaze, into the abyss.

'Hey Blaze.' Came a muffled reply. 'I'll be out in a moment! I just need to say goodbye to... someone.'

Treble was visibly vibrating on the spot. Arthur looked at him and nodded knowingly. "Not long to wait." He whispered.

Everybody waited tensely. A minute passed. Two minutes. Three.

"Ethan, what's taking so long?" Said Valerie.

'I'm coming! Just... I had a lot of goodbyes to say. Okay then... this is it. Goodbye. I'll make you proud! Let's go, everyone.'

The rift rippled a bit. "Here they come!" Said Blaze. "Stand back!"

Ethan came jumping out of the rift. He took a few steps away as Gregar, then Alias, then finally.

"Flare! _Flaaare!_ " Flare, in her Iris disguise went stumbling back a few steps as Treble tackle hugged her. "IMissedYou!" Arthur notice her clothing was now white, rather than pink or blue.

"Treble?! I... Treble..." Flare hugged back. "...So much has happened... I... There's so much I need to tell you, and... some of it..."

"I'll still love you! You got everyone back here safe." Treble hugged tighter.

Flare slumped. "Not... no, I didn't."

"What?" Treble had to stop gripping her to look at ther face. "...Who? You're..."

"Falzar. She's gone. I know we never liked each other, but... she deserved better than..." Flare's voice caught.

"You're nearly crying." Murmured Treble. He hugged her again. "Let's sit down. You can tell me everything you need to. I'm here now. I won't let any more bad things happen."

* * *

Everyone had circled around Ethan's group as he told his story. Arthur tried his hardest to listen, but couldn't help but get distracted by how much Ethan's appearance had changed. He was wearing the same suit as he'd gone in in, no other one had a forcefield after all. But the left sleeve had been ripped off halfway down, revealing a wide scar that circled Ethan's arm. Whatever had made that wound had obviously been extremely painful...

And he'd lost weight. Not a small amount either. He was wiry now, bones poking at him. His face was a bit gaunt, and eyes bagged. He'd been low on food and sleep. His hands were callused from working on something. Even if he'd apparently cleaned himself up and shaven, the suit was stained slightly with something unidentifiable.

Flare started to speak. "Falzar used her consciousness to suppress the Phoenix system. She made herself into a counterpart to it that feeds on its own energy to stop it, so no matter how hard it tries... Falzar will never rise again on Beyondard. She chose to sacrifice herself for the good of that whole world. I won't let that be forgotten."

"We never will, at least." Said Alias.

"...I need to show you something else, too." Said Flare. "I- I've been a little worried about it... but, when I arrived on Beyondard, my powers started to wane. They almost completely disappeared after a day. Then I started disappearing."

"It was the Phoenix system. It wouldn't allow two Falzars to exist." Said Gregar.

"By the end of the second day, I'd nearly faded to nothing. In my desperation, and because of how little of me was left, I was able to finally seperate myself from being Falzar. All the power left me, along with that identity. Falzar's consciousness remained, but it slept until it woke up to defeat Beyondard's Falzar."

"But you seem okay now." Said Ember. "How did you recover your cybeast powers?"

"I didn't recover them." Said Flare. "I made new ones. Using the leftover bits of data as a template I... I engaged program fusion. Normally that would instantly restore me by absorbing nearby programs, but I wasn't going to restore myself..."

"She was going to reforge herself. And she did- better than before." Said Ethan. "And for all us humans here, let's just say, that's like stitching on all your arms and legs, without any help, holding the needle in your mouth, complete with the pain. The mental strength needed... It just breaks any kind of comparison."

"I... I'm sorry if you liked my old form better, but..." Flare shimmered. Her suit was replaced with white armor. It had the same overall silhouette as her previous form, with banded gauntlets and boots, and a set of thick, stylised wings. But now her boots and bracers were ridged, taking on a more celestial appearance, inset with gold and what looked like flowing fur. Her suit was patterned with subtle scales, and her wings no longer looked like feathers, but most glaringly of all, she had a muzzle, again with subtle scaling, and more of that strange fur flowing back where a goat might have had horns. Hey eyes had changed too, from blue to purple.

"That's awesome!" Shouted Treble. "You're a dragon! Or an angel thing! Uh, I mean, I love you however you look, but you're awesome! "

Flare nodded her head. "I... I can't breathe fire, though. I have my old elements, but I made new moves so that I could be what we were missing. A healer."

"Heh, healer. Your fighting skills are greater than ever." Said Gregar. "Although it's true. You saved all our lives more times than I can count with your flowers."

"Thanks." Flare circled her hand in front of herself once, and a flower appeared in it, etheral and glowing with energy. "Here, Treble. Look what I can conjure." She said just a little proudly.

"You... Aww." Treble nearly skipped up. He tried to take the flower out of Flare's clawed hands, but the second he touched it it disappeared. "Oh no! Sorry!"

"It's okay. They do that. They heal you let your next attack use Wood element too, but... you're already at full health." Said Flare. "I'm just so used to using them from my time there..."

"No worries! You're back safe, Flare, and that's all that matters. If you don't want to fight anymore, then I'll make sure you don't have to."

"No. It's my responsibility to fight for those I care for. I haven't shyed from that before, and I won't start. Although, I suppose there's not really much fighting left for me to do." Said Flare. "How can I help, Blaze?"

"As far as I know, you've done your part." Said Blaze. "Tomorrow, once I'm fully rested and my wand's in tip-top shape, me and Val will assault The Save's base. We're strong enough to take them all on now that I have this." She held up her wand.

"I'll come too." Said Nobody. "It is my sworn duty to protect the world."

"You can't! With your arm fractured..." Started Arthur.

"I can heal that." Said Flare. "...When I was creating this power, or at least trying to control what I created, I made sure I could heal humans. Here. LifeBlossom." She held out a hand, and another flower appeared. "This will repair damage to what your body thinks should be there, but only to an extent. It won't restore a lost limb, and I don't think I could cure cancer or anything." She offered the blossom out to Nobody.

"...We can only bring you if AEGIS swears he won't betray us." Said Blaze. "...I hate to trust him, but he's been completely honorable for all I know... so I'll give him one chance. In front of everyone."

Aegis didn't hesitate to appear. "I swear... I shall not... harm you... unless... you... abuse your powers... after victory..." And he faded out.

"...Easy enough." Said Ethan. "You sure I can't come and back you up, Blaze? I can hold my own."

"Sorry Ethan. But it can't be done. I'm only bringing other guardians and Nobody, because we can resist the secrets that us Guardians will use. Even if you're strong, the strongest- you can't stop them freezing you in time." Said Blaze.

"...Alright. But you'd better come back alive!" Said Ethan.

"Don't worry. I'm just a little bit overpowered with this." Blaze looked at her wand. "If only I could think of a way to buff up Val... Uh, Valor."

* * *

After everyone disbanded, and got to cooking or cleaning or resting or preparing otherwise, Arthur pulled Gregar aside.

"What happened to Ethan's arm?" He whispered.

"Okay, long story short- it was life or death, so I tranformed and picked him up in my mouth to escape the battlefield. His shields were down, and even though I didn't try and hurt him, well... the arm just sort of slipped."

"I see. Forgivable."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just trying to work out how to tell Ammie her step-cousin is permanently scarred because of me." Said Gregar. "And Alisha... Oh boy. That one's gonna be awkward."

"I'm sure she'll understand."

"Heh, famous last words." Said Gregar. "But thanks for the vote of confidence. If only I had Treble's... uh... pep."

"You'll do fine. Everyone loves a dog."

"Hey! I'm a Wolf! A wolf, you hear?"

"..." Arthur shrugged and walked off. "Domestic wolf?"

"...Rrrmph. Dammit. Maybe I am." Gregar kicked the dirt. "Guess if Treble can do it, so can I."

* * *

"Hey, I thought of a way to buff you up!" Said Treble to Valerie.

"Oh? Really?" Valerie sat up. She'd been stretching, and doing light exercise- not enough to exhaust her for tomorrow, but enough to ensure a good night's sleep.

"You're immune to bugs while you're Valor, right? I mean, you're already really really resistant for a human. I think Chroma has something to do with it."

"Am I?"

"I'm immune." Said Chroma. "Guess it rubbed off. That or magic Mu blood."

"Well, I've got a plan. I'm going to concentrate all my powers to you once you signal me for them. And I'll get Gregar and Flare to back me up. Together, that's going to be like four quadruple expressos and an energy drink."

"Interesting... way... to put that, but okay, I'm down for this." Said Valerie. "How am I going to contact you?"

"Just message Arthur. Your Transer can message a PET, right?"

Valerie shook her head. "I don't have it when I'm Valor."

"I can message." Said Chroma. "What's your frequency?"

"Uh, frequency, right... Arthur?" Called Treble.

Arthur leaned out of one of the windows of the caravans. "What? I can't leave the cooking, or the mushrooms willl burn!"

"Pass me the PET!"

Arthur tossed it out of the window gently. Heavily reinforced or not, he couldn't imagine willingly throwing something so valuable with any amount of force.

"Thanks!" Treble turned to Chroma. "You should be able to figure out what you need from this, right?"

Chroma looked at the PET. "Got it. I'll call on you once we need it."

"Ok! Well, I'm going to go find Flare! See ya!" Treble bounced off.

* * *

"Hey, when we get back home, what should we do?" Asked Treble. It was getting late, and the sun was below the horizon. "I was thinking I'd go to the arena, or maybe we could go visit Wirope some time."

"I don't know. I never had time to think about it when I was down there. Treble, you haven't seen me fight in my current form, have you?"

"N-no, but I know you don't like to fight..."

"That's true. But once we're home, I'll show you. I know you're curious."

Blaze looked over. "Actually, I'm more curious as to what your cybeast form looks like. Angel-bird thing or Dragon?"

"I don't mind showing you." Flare walked across the room and pushed the door open. She hopped off the steps, and a good metre into the air before glowing, and with a flash was replaced by a somewhat avian dragon. Her chest was scaled, wings made of tough feathering that seemed to be digital plate armor, and a thick tail, with yet more of that strange cybernetic fur at the top. All in brilliant white.

Everyone craned at the door. "Wow." Said Treble.

 _Why's her entire colour scheme in white? A bit of read or blue might spice this up._ Arthur was struck by that thought involuntarily, and then to his mild horror he heard Flare's voice echo in his head.

'I hear you. Sorry. Trying to control my mind reading. Anyway, that happened because I accidentally set all the shaders on my programs to 255/255/255. I can't figure out how to turn them down.'

Ember looked at Blaze, who was mouthing words. "Is she talking to you psychically too?"

"SORRY! SORRY! IT'S JUST HARD NOT TO DO THAT LIKE THIS!" Said CBFlare. She vanished back to normal. "Um... yeah, sorry about the massive invasion of privacy."

"It's ok!" Called Treble. "Tell me more about all your powers!"

Arthur sat down, as Flare and Treble continued to talk. "Oomph... So, Ethan. How is Beyondard now?"

"It's good. I think that world will be safe from disaster, at least for a while. And I'm actually glad I went there. I... met someone. You know I'm an orphan, right?"

"...Yes."

"I met my mother. She's still alive down there."

Arthur looked at Ethan. "..Thanks for coming back then, I guess."

"Don't worry. Can't just mooch off my parents for all my life." Grinned Ethan, perfectly aware he'd been self-sufficient for a long while. "You know, we were actually enemies for a good few months, before GRIFFIN started gaining traction for fighting the cybeasts."

"No way. Your own mother?"

"Well, my mother from an alternate reality. We saw a lot of familiar faces, actually. Bass isn't even evil on that world."

"No way."

"Yes way. But he's also not as strong. Oh yeah, and SheepMan exists as RamMan! Looks like our world is the only one that really screwed him over."

"Well, he IS in service to Flare now. That's hardly being screwed over."

"True. Man, I wish there were still some strong enemies left in our time. Flare's got this new, crazy power and nothing to do with it."

"I'm sure that's a good thing. And besides, maybe..." Arthur trailed off.

"Ooh? You know something? I might not be Gregar, but I can appreciate a good fight!"

"No, not for us. But if our navis are still around by Valerie's time, then I'm going to have them rally to her. She sounds like she could use them."

"...Hm. I don't see Gregar going down."

"A lot can happen in two hundred years. Don't take anything for granted."

"I just can't imagine it." Said Ethan. "Espeically after we literally took on a while world together."

"The whole world?! Really?"

"Well, not all at once... And we did have some allies... Oh yeah, Umbra. I forgot to tell you about her, but she ended up being a huge help. Once she combined the powers of the SolCross Ember gave her and LunaCross, she created this thing called AetherCross, and then- oh man, the move she used with it was The Best Thing. She just whizzed all around while slashing loads and there was dark and light everywhere, and it was all like whapow- bam!" He waved his hands around a bit.

"Hehe. For a moment I could have sworn you were Treble then." Said Arthur.

Ethan shrugged. "Said it before, I can appreciate a good fight. Though I have had enough of life and death."

* * *

Valerie looked at Blaze from her bed. "I... I'm not ready, Blaze."

"Oh?"

"I'm friends with you, gran, but... this is my first time having family in years. I'm not ready for this to be over."

Blaze nodded. "Yeah. It's tough. You're a pretty cool girl. I always wanted a friend like you, but most of the other girls I know... I mean, they're nice and all, and plenty of them are strong and brave, but... none of them are really... dynamic."

"Dynamic?"

"Hey. I'm an action girl."

"Okay. Oh yeah, you know how Arthur's been going on about entrusting the navis to me..?"

"Yeah? I like the idea."

"...What if... well, what if I'm not good enough? Or their expectations get really high after 200 years, or something? Or... I don't know. I feel like everything could go wrong."

"But it won't. Ember is a steadfast ally. Alias stand for the good in this world. Zero, SteamMan, ProtoMan? They care about justice. Treble already placed his life in your hands by fighting with your directions. Flare doesn't have it in her to be mean to you. Gregar cares about Flare. MegaMan... well, he might decide to... go with Lan. But if not then he'll be the first to find you." Said Blaze. "I can't stay with you for long, but you'll have my legacy. I promise." She reached into her hair. "In fact..."

"Blaze, I can't take that." Said Valerie.

"You need it much more than I do. Without an artifact of your own, then those secrets are worth nothing if things actually get to the point you need them."

"But this-"

"It's a guardian's duty. It passes from mother to daughter or father to son. You might not be MY daughter, but you're my direct descendant. This should have passed to you already." Blaze held out the pin. "That fact that you don't have it means that I win this argument, by the way."

"...Oh my god, you literally have all of time set up to make me lose an argument." Valerie rolled her eyes. "Okay gran. I'll take the hairpin."

"Thanks. So who do you think I'll marry, anyway?" Blaze lay down. "It won't be Arthur or Ethan, Lan's got Mayl, Mick and Tab are out... Hmm. It's really bugging me, now that I know I do."

"Don't sweat it. It'll happen." Valerie lay down. "What about that Chaud guy?"

"Ew no."

* * *

The sun rose. Everyone assembled in front of the caravans.

Blaze stood firmly. "Alright everybody! This is it. I'm going to create the rift for all of you to leave this place. Me and Val and Nobody will take things from here."

"Thanks for offering to boost my power, you three." Said Valerie. "I won't waste your blessing. Hopefully we can meet up back in my time..."

Blaze waved her wand. "Alright, we're going now."

"Bye Val!" Said Ethan. "We didn't know each other for long, but I'll miss you. So will everyone."

"Good luck in the future." Said Arthur. "Come back safe, Blaze.

"Your fighting has been most appreciated." Said Zero. "Good luck to all of you."

"Without Denny present, I'll give practical advice- keep moving once you're in there. Make it hard to force you to fight overwhleming numbers." Said ProtoMan.

"You have my blessing." Said Flare.

"All the power I can supply is at your disposal." Said Gregar. "I can trust one of Blaze's kids with it."

"You won't fail. I'll be cheering you on." Said Alias.

"Good luck guys! I'll do my best for you too!" Encouraged Treble.

"As the navi of your very-great-uncle... I have faith in you. You're just as strong as any Kazuhaya." Said SteamMan firmly. "And we aren't at all weak."

Blaze swept her wand around. "Here goes. Ember, Val, Chroma, Nobody... Aegis." She took out the charm Bass had left them long ago. "Let's go!" She hit the charm, and the group disappeared.

Ethan walked over to the portal. "Alright, let's jack out. You guys can still supply power to them from the PET?"

"As long as it's in range of this rift." Said Gregar.

"After you." Said Alias. "Wouldn't want to have no PET to get into."

Ethan stepped through the portal. Then Alias. Gregar next.

"See you on the other side, Flare!" Called Treble.

"You too!" Flare went through.

"Arthur, you head through before me." Said ProtoMan. "It wouldn't do to make anyone vulnerable."

"Okay." Arthur stepped through the rift. "Come on Treble."

"Coming!" Treble ran through after him.

* * *

Arthur became aware something was wrong as he stepped out of the rift. This wasn't the real world, for starters, because Treble stepped out next to him rather then going into his PET.

"Where is this? Where is everyone?" Said Arthur. It was like being in space. A starry sky background, grey tiles to stand on.

"Oh no! No no no! Back in the rift, quick!" Shouted Treble.

The rift closed.

"Did you really think I was going to just let you go?" Said Bass, floating down to stand in his homepage. "Now... Once and for all time. Fight me, Treble!"

 **Author's notes: Before I wrap the story up in the next chapter or two, there was one last thing I had to do. It's time.**

 **Reviewer answers.**

 **TyrantChimera: Hehe, I know just how it is to get something ingrained in your mind. I'm not opposed to the idea of doing a collab, but I need to take a break once I finish this. Hands and mind need to recover.**


	65. Chapter 65: Last fight

"Bass! This isn't a fair fight!" Shouted Treble. "Even if I win you're just going to blow my netop up!"

"We still have to try! I refuse to give up here!"

"Silence." Said Bass. "I didn't drag you here to fight you at anything less than your best. Your absolute apex of power."

"...Explain?" Said Arthur.

"I will not attack you. Treble. If you can delete me, in single combat- then you're both free to go. Lose, and Arthur's life is forfeit."

"Free to go where? This isn't the real world." Said Arthur.

"I've altered my dimensional manipulation program. As soon as I'm deleted, a rift to reality will open." Said Bass. "So come on, Treble! It's time we finally put this to rest! Which of us is stronger!?"

"...I know I should say something profound here, but nothing comes to mind." Said Treble sadly. "Although I do know one thing. I have always tried my best for Arthur. If there is a threat to him... I will destroy it!"

Arthur looked ahead. "You've chosen to fight us, and it's not like we can get out of it this time. Treble, if we lose this... I love you. As a parent. And a brother."

"We're not losing."

"Treble, destroy!" Shouted Arthur.

Treble ran forwards, as Bass floated around, trying to keep his space to move in open. Treble swiped and missed, but didn't even slow down as Bass moved into position, readying his signature Buster Rake.

"AreaSteal, in twice!"

The moment Bass started firing, Treble disappeared and reappeared behind him, driving into a hard rake with his claws. Bass blocked and threw him back, before launching a pair of Hell'sRollings that moved slowly and with backspin, warding off any more claw attacks. Treble started firing with his buster, and Bass brought up his aura, shielding himself.

"Now!" Shouted Arthur.

Treble got the message, and warped forwards, into the air.

"NorthWind! Thunder! And Guard, in!" Arthur shivered as a chilling breeze passed through the area, Treble crashing down to strike Bass now that his aura was out of the fight. Treble was moving like never before, a newfound fury in his stance. He was light on his feet, practically flickering as he threw himself through slices, bites, dodges and deflections fast enough to boggle the mind.

Bass was using his Darkness Blade to try and skewer Treble, but he couldn't quite land a hit, only the barest of glancing blows as Treble attacked, before he took a bad hit to the face and swung it in a huge arc in frustration, the blastwave sending Treble a few steps back. He glanced at the cut across the backs of his gauntlets where he'd blocked the worst of that attack, and then jumped out of the blast of an EarthBreaker.

"FlashBomb, CornShot FireBurn, CornShot FireBurn!" It was rare Arthur ever used five chips at once, but this was the moment to get on the offensive, before Bass used the F-Carving.

Treble threw the stun bomb like a baseball, directly for Bass' face, and Bass blinked forwards, hands glowing with power. Treble skirted around him as a void of darkness bloomed in front of Bass, the floor below ripped from the ground. With a flash of light, Bass was stunned, and Treble unloaded the first grass-fire combo, before sprinting to the side and then driving a foot into the floor to launch himself at Bass.

Bass stopped him dead with a point-blank GolemHit, then there was a screech, and his armor went orange. His fins spiked out, and a pair of wings spread. Treble was reeling from the GolemHit as Bass levelled the Falzar cannon, the winds from it throwing him back and scouring the floor with enough force to throw up some blue pixels where it had disintegrated the floor. Yet As he dispelled the cannon a green blast hit him squarely in the chest, flames close behind. He made a quick aerial roll to the side, flying into the air and charging his busters.

"Reflector2, VariableSword's SonicBoom, Thunder, ElementBreath in!" Arthur's heart skipped a beat as Bass started firing, but it was already going so fast he didn't notice.

Treble danced out of the way of the first few shots, and got the shield up in time to reflect several more into Bass, before throwing the used defence to one side and twisting himself into a rolling SonicBoom, the arc whipping through the air for Bass. Bass brought his talons down, clashing against the arc for just a moment before breaking it, and then Treble leapt for him.

Bass was high in the air, beyond one jump, but then with a purple flicker Treble stepped on a patch of air that breifly was tricked into being solid, jumped right up to Bass' height, and stunned Bass with the Thunder, before grabbing him, dragging him down. As Bass tried to make a quick strike with his claws, Treble quickly made a vicious bite, and firmly clamped to Bass's arm with his fangs before using the ElementBreath, fire spewing everywhere.

"Transform! AquaNeedle twice, AirHockey twice!"

Treble transformed just as Bass tried to throw him off, actually skidding back a bit despite his huge size and weight. He didn't hesitate to let loose aqua breath over the area in front of him, but Bass plowed through, forming another EarthBreaker in his hands, and even as Treble closed his mouth Bass smashed it down with enough force to rattle Arthur's bones. Treble launched the drill, Bass got out of the way, and flipped up, flicking a wave of Hell'sRollings down upon Treble, the wheels crashing against his armored hide, while Bass dodged a few chunks of debris from JunkFlyer.

"Why, Treble?" Called Bass. "Why couldn't we have been allies?" The accusation wasn't from hurt. Bass' voice, steady as a rock, was simple. A demand to know. Know why things couldn't have been different.

"WE COULD HAVE BEEN!" Retorted Treble, wary of a surprise attack. "I NEVER HELD A THING AGAINST YOU UNTIL YOU ATTACKED ME THAT DAY!"

"...No, I know now. Because I couldn't stomach the idea of ever working with some nobody human. Even temporarily." Bass floated down. "Was I weak then? Or am I right to hold my grudge? I lost everything on the whims of humanity- how can you forgive when so much is gone?"

"..."

"You're not weak. But there wasn't any strength in trying to inflict your own suffering upon everyone else by destroying the net." Said Arthur. "Or threatening Treble. Or throwing Ethan into Beyondard."

"As I thought... I've had 200 years to mediate on this. Yet I'm still bitter. My one chance at redemption was squandered by the one and only person I knew to the depths of their soul."

"I... I NEVER WANTED TO..."

"Myself. Don't be stupid."

"ARE YOU STILL GOING TO FIGHT? YOU KINDA STOPPED TO MONOLOGUE HERE..."

"Yes. You're owed your revenge- Now show me you've got the power to take it!" Roared Bass, charging forwards.

Treble blew flames, and Bass halted, buffeting the watery fire back, and then slamming down a powerful Hell'sRolling. Treble ran forwards, forcing his way past the wheel and then pinning Bass under a lucky swipe, before using the remaining drill at point blank, head going through the floor before reappearing. Bass was damaged now, but with a sudden surge of cybeast strength he threw Treble off, and slammed into his chest before another Darkness Overload started burning into Treble's stomach. Treble moved to crush him, and Bass spun, clashing blades and avoiding the worst of the damage while Treble turned back.

"GregarEX, UnifyCode, FlareEX! DoubleBeast!"

Treble started firing his buster, wearing away at Bass for whatever it was worth, and then Bass soared forwards faster than the eye could follow, and dual-weilding his Darkness blade and it's prototype Dark Arm Blade, amtched Treble in hand-to hand for three flashing strokes before stabbing, catching and cutting Treble along the side of his head. As he flinched, Bass kicked him in the chest, sending him flying, crashing to the floor.

Treble got up, and Arthur could see he was badly hurt. Worry flowed through him. Worry, then fear, then hatred, then rage, calm, and in the space of two seconds, absolute certainty.

Bass had to be destroyed, or he was going to delete Treble. The spark of FullSynchro ignited in Arthur, growing to a wildfire in his heart as Treble felt it too, purple soul energy starting to crackle and roil around him.

 **"DoubleBeast!"**

Gregar and Flare appeared next to Treble, and they rushed forwards together, Treble as familiar with them as himself. Suddenly Bass was simply overwhelmed by a torrent of claws, talons, and the weapons the cybeasts cycled through, before at the same time all three hit him with a brutal, crushing claw.

Bass staggered, and his F-Carving dropped. "More! Give me more!"

Arthur and Treble were all too happy to oblige. " **Falzar! Giga... ATTACK!"**

Feathers rocketed down, as Bass's cloak started to rip from the winds alone Falzar's form appeared, and with one blast of wind sent Bass stumbling back yet again.

The PET's custom gauge refilled. It shouldn't have, but Arthur was under such a primal focus he only knew that it was what he needed. " **LifeSword!"**

Treble charged, and swung the LifeSword as Bass took out the Darkness Blade.

The world slowed to slow motion, as Arthur and Treble's souls burned in unison. They clashed blades once, an explosion of damaged data flying everywhere as Bass' attack slipped through and hit Treble's shoulder, and Treble's cut across Bass' left fin. Then they both moved into a secondary strike, and as the blades hit each other, there was a tremendous, terrible 'CRACK!', both shattering into a million bits.

Arthur thought fast. Treble knew what he was thinking. And with the broken hilt of the LifeSword, he thrust forwards, while both he and his NetOp gave the same will to Treble's soul.

Just as it got close, purple energy crystallised on the blade, reforming it.

Bass moved up one of his gauntlets to block.

Arthur saw him stop his own hand.

And the sword went straight through Bass' navi mark.

Time stopped altogether for a moment. Treble's eyes widened as he realised what he'd achieved. He looked at the Navi impaled before him. "Bass! I-"

"Always... wanted... it... to... be someone... I knew..." Said Bass. He looked at Treble, relaxing his face. "At last..."

"You let me win! You let me win?!" Said Treble in shock. "I... did you even mean to delete me?!"

"Of course... I did." Bass sighed, as he started to dissolve, patches around the wound starting to glow. "Just... wanted to be deleted... by... someone... that... wasn't... MegaMan."

Bass dissolved. Treble looked at the empty space in utter inability to comprehend what had happened. Bass deleted? The world would end first!

Arthur walked up. "...He had to be destroyed. For all our sakes."

"I wanted to destroy him. I fantasised about it, up... up until now. Why do I feel so... so... I cheated! He let me win!"

Arthur shook his head. "He was ready to be deleted. He just wanted someone he knew to see him off."

"...That's..."

"Only a guess, I know." Said Arthur. "But I believe it. Don't feel bad, Treble. He went without regrets, doing something he loved."

A portal started to open. Treble looked at it. "I guess. I suppose... Nevermind. Hey Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"...Don't... don't tell anyone. I don't think Bass would appreciate it."

"Understood. Let's go, before this closes. We'll talk more about it later." Arthur stepped through the rift.

Treble followed.

* * *

"What was with the delay then?" Said Chaud, as Arthur hit the floor. Treble reappeared in his PET, physical form lost.

"Wow. First words I hear when I'm back in my own dimension." Deflected Arthur. "Time stuff, I guess."

"Nevermind that now!" Said Ethan. "Blaze and Valerie are in battle!"

Arthur ran over to a computer someone had set up, as battle played out on screen. "What can I do?"

"Nothing yet!" Warned Ethan. "She's struggling, but she's refusing to call on us."

"We're her trump card, remember." Said Gregar carefully. "I want to give her a dose of super-strength, but she's saving it."

Arthur looked down to Treble. "Get your power back as fast as you can. We'll need it soon." He whispered, hoping no-one else would hear. He looked up at the screen. Valor and EmberR were trying to push through a defensive wall, against seven generic-appearing navis in seven colours.

"Hey, where's Pantheon?" Said Arthur, as Valor was driven back by a two-pronged assault.

"Not sure. These guys seem to be knock-off copies of the rest of The Save." Said Ethan. "Look, that one in Bit-Byte's colours is about to use that blasted stun cannon."

Arthur fixated on a yellow-tinted navi, that brought up a familiar bulky weapon, and fired a bolt of light. It nearly hit EmberR, but with a sudden sleight of hand she hit the bolt with her Mu Metal, and it vanished, the air where it had been rippling.

"I don't see how they can get through this without using more power than they can spare!" Said Arthur. "They can win, but they won't be in any state to take on Astral Loop!"

"Zero, do you have any idea where Pantheon is?" Said Ethan. "We need to get him over there, now."

"Where's Lan?" Said Arthur, looking around.

"He... he ran off to get someone, actually." Said Ethan. "Not sure who, but I trust him."

"I'll find Pantheon." Offered Flare. "At least, I'll get him to come and help out."

"You, Flare? But how? You're here, and he's there."

"Ethan, the PET can handle my full power, right?"

"Should be able to." Said Ethan.

Flare swapped to CB-Flare, and closed her eyes. Arthur suddenly felt uncomfortable. He noticed Ethan bite his lip. But the sensation passed quickly.

"...Okay, that's an extremely terrifying ability." Said Arthur. "You can mind control humans while you're still in the PET?"

"NO." Said Flare. "I CAN'T MIND CONTROL ANYONE. ONLY SPEAK TO THEM... OR... I SUPPOSE I COULD ATTACK THEM, BUT THAT WOULDN'T WORK WELL ON ANYONE WHO'S NOT NEAR TO ME. OTHERWISE I'D CLEAR THE WAY FOR EMBER."

"How long until Pantheon's there? This fight can't go on any longer!" Said Ethan.

"JUST A MOMENT!" Called Flare.

Arthur watched tensely. It was hard to go back to seeing battles from one angle, on a small screen, after witnessing so many of them firsthand. Everything seemed so... muted. But still, that was Blaze and Valerie down there. And they weren't doing so well, even if their skills complemented each other. Valor couldn't get close enough to do any meaningful damage with calling on her Giga Card that would be best saved, and Ember didn't have the raw force needed to break through the defensive lines and open the fight properly. It was just a shootout, seven to two. And it wasn't going great.

Then Valor looked behind her, and stepped aside.

A spartan in full armor with solid shadow hiding his face charged forwards, cape billowing in an unreal wind, sword and shield raised, and even through a zero camera with audio that was distorted by the dimensional flux, his battle shout was something to be feared. Aegis was on the front of his shield, and seemed to magnetise the round of enemy fire into it, blocking it with stalwart defence.

Valor took the opening, charging behind the newcomer, and with a jet blast Ember fell in, the trio suddenly picking up the pace and crashing into the enemy lines, scattering them. Arthur watched as Pantheon's intimidating presence ruthlessly grabbed the attention of the attackers, before fiercely stopping anything and everything that tried to hit him. Spiders, lasers, nets, comets, rocks, shuriken and bombs. His cape flicked in ways no piece of fabric should ever have been able to, very deliberately blocking anything that thought Pantheon was anything less than invincible from the back.

Without the concentrated firepower to keep Valor back, she'd gotten close, and that was enough to unleash a devastating Spectral Scream across the enemy lines, while Ember skated along the walls, the ceiling, the enemy's faces- anywhere that would be hard to hit, all the while swinging her blades at whatever made a convenient target.

The enemy finally completely focused on Pantheon, as seven. A dire mistake. He pounded the closest one with his shield, the rest taking a step back at the ensuing shockwave, and then held up his sword. "Divine Storm!"

With one crack of lightning, all seven enemies went flying, slamming into the walls and floor. They should have landed in an arc, but then Ember intervened, zipping around and knocking the outliers into the main group. "Hit 'em!" She called, zipping along the ceiling to get behind Valor.

Pantheon took a solid step forwards, and held up his shield. Arthur couldn't see what happened, but suddenly the enemies all froze, ceasing their attempts to fight back and get up. Pantheon walked forwards calmly, and summarily executed them, as they failed to even attempt to block his sword. "Even the mindless know to fear Aegis." He turned and looked at Ember and Valor. "You go ahead. I have no choice but to trust you to dispose of this enemy."

EmberR rolled up her mask. " **Okay, I'll send you home now, then.** "

"One thing first." Pantheon looked at Valor. "...Aegis and I have made an agreement. We will leave you be."

"Really? Seriously? Uh, why?" Valor didn't sound particularly believing. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that if either of us receive even the slightest indication you are using the secrets- even _thinking_ of using the secrets, anything at all related to Mu in any way, shape or form- we will come for you, and we will kill you."

"You'll understand there may be circumstances where I have no choice? Like right now?"

"But in that situation, I assure you we'll already be dead." Said Pantheon. "I hope we never see each other again, Valerie. Sincerely."

"Yeah, yeah. I sincerely hope you're serious about not being a giant pain in my butt from now on. I could get very used to that after these last few weeks." Said Valor. "Bye."

"...Bye. Just remember. Don't associate with Mu." Said Pantheon, as Blaze waved her wand around behind him. He stepped through without another word.

" **Well, he was a jerk at times, but at least he was a helpful jerk.** " Commented EmberR.

"At times." Said Valor. "Come on, this is the last room."

"Of course! Oh, but listen. Time isn't very stable in there. Some features on your transer might not work."

"Messaging will be fine, though?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'm ready."

They walked to the final door. "Val, have you noticed..."

"The timestreams. Yes."

"They're ALL empty now." Said Blaze. "All of them but one."

"The one in front of us. And these things show the future..."

"So I guess that means if we turn back now, then everything gets wiped out. Cheerful!" Said Blaze. She grabbed the door, and fiddled for a moment before realising it lifted from the bottom. She threw it open with a crash, and marched in. "Come out come out, you narcissistic pocketwatch! I've got a score to settle!"

The room was dark. Arthur could hardly make out anything. Then there was a flicker, like a screen turning on. A set of thin lines drew themselves along the walls, perfectly straight for the moment. Then they started to vibrate, and Arthur could make out speech... sort of. It was horrendously garbled. "Can you tell what they're saying?"

"No. Alias, you're good at this?" Ethan watched the room, not seeing Astral Loop.

"...Not really. I think it's an offer to join forces, yet again, and- Ooh!"

Arthur's attention snapped back to the screen. Two rifts had opened in front of Valor and Ember. Two?

From the first one floated the enemy they'd been expecting. Ticking with all that computerised clockwork, was Astral Loop.

And from the second...

"Scorpio!" Called Valor. "Wait, something's not right about him..."

" **Something serious...** " Said EmberR.

"Greetings, girls. I'm only here to make sure things turn out the way they do." Said Scorpio. Arthur couldn't quite put his finger on what was different about Scorpio, but it was indeed something serious.

"He's got a funny glow, hasn't he?" Said Treble.

"...Well now that I look, yeah." Said Alias.

Gregar frowned. "Yeah, but why?"

" **Are you ready, Val? We'll defeat these people, and protect time**." Said EmberR.

"Let's go! I... We... We're the guardians of Mu, and we won't let you use our secrets to threaten the world!" Shouted Valor.

"Attack!" Called ScorpioSand, stepping forwards.

Arthur watched the screen suddenly start to distort. "What's going on? Zero, is something wrong?"

"It's the unstable time." Replied Zero. "My communications aren't being interrupted, but the battle is distorting how time itself flows!"

Ethan looked on in shock as the fight seemed to jump around. For a moment both sides were already beaten up, standing through force of will, then they were both pristine, attacking relentlessly, and it kept jumping. "I can't tell what's going on in there!"

Arthur's PET beeped. "Now! Power to Valerie!" He commanded.

"Gregar, Flare, give it all you got!" Seconded Ethan.

Treble focused, holding a hand forwards that lit up and surged with soul power. Gregar held both his hands forwards forcefully, and his own green energy concentrated around his hands, flowing into the reality rift. Flare's disguise dropped, and she hovered a foot or two off the floor, wings spread and radiating white energy.

"I hope it can reach them while they're in such a weird place..." Said Alias. "Come on, cybeasts! I know you can do it!"

"Thanks!" Shouted Treble. His power wasn't quite as bright as Gregar or Flare's, but it was a meaningful amount.

Arthur concentrated on the mess of a screen. The picture was practically broken now, glitching left and right. For a moment he caught a glimpse of Valerie with her wings spread, soaring around the field. Her very form seemed to be a little different, almost on the verge...

"Ethan... can... can a human beast out?" Said Arthur curiously.

"Hey, good idea." Said Ethan.

"What if she loses control?!"

"My power will keep her in control." Said Flare steadily, holding up her output. "Do you want to push her over the edge? Once we do, she'll involuntarily beast out, but she'll still be in control of herself, and much, much stronger."

"..." Arthur looked at the battle. It was too even. "Yes, but we need to time it well. A beast out doesn't last forever. Zero, can you lock onto the point two minutes from the end of the fight?"

"I can try... Connection established."

Ethan nodded. "Now! Go all out! Everything you've got, down to the last drop!"

"Treble, don't hold back a bit! You've got my blessing, use your full strength in one moment!"

"I... Don't have... Enough power!" Said Treble.

"Rrrrgh!" Shouted Gregar.

The door flew open. "We're here! Just in time!" Shouted Lan. "How can we help?"

"Power to the cybeasts, we'll transfer it to Valor!" Called Ethan.

"Roger! Mayl, you get Flare! We'll boost Gregar!" Responded Lan. "Chaud, Burn, do what you can for Treble!"

"Understood!" Chaud appeared by Arthur's side, pointing his PET to Arthur's. "ProtoMan, link up auxiliary processing power. Help Treble regenerate expended data."

"Strength to you!" Shouted Burn.

"Hang in there!" Mayl appeared on one side of Ethan, Roll in hand. "We can supply energy too!"

"MegaMan, one last operation for the year!" Shouted Lan. "Here we go!"

"This power..." Said Gregar in happy surprise. "It's incredible! On your mark!"

" **Go!** " Instructed Ethan.

Lan put a hand on his chest. "Do you hear us, Blaze, Valerie? Everyone is supporting you! You can't lose!"

Suddenly, the image on the screen stopped jumping.

Arthur saw Valor flying in a sharp arc, only ScorpioSand still in combat- Astral Loop was gone. She came up and Arthur caught a glimpse of a new form, talons wicked, armor in a new form emblazoned with primal power, and wings radiant with an aura of soul energy. She crashed into ScorpioSand, and then with a whirling, feral flurry of slices she moved behind him and unleashed a breath weapon that was very nearly beyond description, as though the Aurora Borealis had been turned into a stream of light, while shining winds of lightning assisted it. Scorpio was left paralysed for a moment, and then the audio returned too, and everyone saw EmberR take out her long bolt of Mu Metal.

" **Activating final weapon!** " She shouted. There was a vibration around her as her four blades detached from her elbows and knees, floating up to her left wrist and elongating a little. The bases of the blades formed a circle around her left wrist, and EmberR swiftly moved her bolt into the palm of her left hand, as the energy from it seemed to intensify, forming into four strings.

"Oh, so that's why she didn't have me program any bowstrings." Said Lan.

"You made that?" Asked Arthur.

"Arthur, shush!" Said Ethan.

Blaze drew back her long bolt of metal, and the power became overbearing. The end glowed with giddying power, and the blades of her quad-bow bent back, as her right hand pulled the bolt back as far as it would go, and it hovered in perfect alignment, in the centre of the circle.

" **HeavenlyBallista!"**

Blaze let go, and the bolt of metal shot out. Arthur instantly knew it had moved at the speed of light itself. The unironic speed. Of. Light. It seemed to just vanish, becoming nothing more than a line of silvery-blue power for a split second. But ScorpioSand was suddenly falling, and Arthur could see the bolt had pierced his heart.

The bolt reformed in the bow, dull of light.

There was a ripple, and Scorpio was replaced by a normal person, in a lab coat.

EmberR walked up, slowly. "I'm sorry it came to that." She looked at the camera, and waved a hand. The video cut out.

"Blaze?" Said Ethan.

"Respect her privacy." Arthur easily replied. "I'd want to know why they did it, but I... well, I'd respect someone might not want their last words broadcast."

"Really? I'd love mine to go everywhere." Said Ethan. "...So when's Blaze coming back?"

The rift started to rumble. Arthur turned, as did everyone else in the room. The rift began to disappear, and shrink, and reveal what it had appeared on top of.

First, Wily. He was still in his suit, in the very same pose he'd been on on stage as he gave his presentation.

Then, the Colonel and Iris systems. Each computer was still untouched by so much as a speck of dust.

And finally, Blaze.

"Hi, guys." She said, smiling a wide smile at everyone. "You wouldn't believe the day I've had."

She stepped down from the stage as Wily looked at her in confusion, loose hair moving about. "Who wants to go somewhere outside?"

"I, Er, what just happened?" Said Wily.

"We'll explain." Said Ethan. "Blaze will, anyway."

"Aw, can't someone else tell the story?" Said Blaze. "I was never a good storyteller..."

"Now now, sis. Who else is going to call me out for eating all your food?" Joked Burn.

"Oh, alright. Come on, guys. Before Chaud decides to take us all to his office for an hour-long debriefing. I want to use the sunlight while it's still autumn!" She threw the doors of the hall open.

"Merry christmas." Said Burn. "Uh, yeah, did mean to break that to you earlier..."

"Oh, who cares. We still did it! Let's go, guys. We've got some celebrations to do, and then a world to build for Valerie." Blaze stayed upbeat. "Come on, I haven't been to Scilabs in ages either! There's lots to do!"

Everyone murmured in agreement, deciding to just... go along with Blaze's spirit.

Not a bad thing to do, decided Arthur. Not bad at all.

* * *

"So... Bass." Said Arthur. He was back at home, with Treble. His parents had been overjoyed, and his friends hadn't left him be for hours and hours. But finally, he had his chance to talk.

"Bass." Echoed Treble. "He's still alive at the moment. Locked in that room in scilabs."

"But it can't be opened, ever. Or that causes a time paradox. We simply have to leave him be. It's the price to pay for a good future."

"Yeah, I know that. I guess I just really never expected to delete him. I still don't know if I would have even won." Admitted Treble.

"You would have. At least, I think you would have. Bass just let it go once he knew that you were good enough to delete him."

"Bass let it go..." Murmured Treble. "It seems impossible. So un-Bass-like I can't even... think of it without feeling dumb."

Arthur shrugged. "Two hundred years can change a lot. How do you feel about it?"

"Glad I guess. But I dunno. I wanted to save him. Saving the cybeasts was possible, but I never managed to save anyone else..."

"You may have saved Valerie or Nobody. As long as nothing causes them to fight, they too will live their lives in peace. And Eurasia's Guardians. Crescendo. SheepMan. The members of The Save who we sent back peacefully."

"...True."

"And there are so many others who's lives you've enriched Treble, beyond mine and Flare's. Never doubt that."

"But there's still things to do! I'll keep this world safe as long as I exist, and I'll help Valerie once I can! With Flare and Gregar and Ember and Alias and loads of other friends at my side." Said Treble happily.

"I don't doubt you will. So then... I guess this is the end of an era."

"Yeah. The end. Until 22XX, at least!"

 **Author's notes: And that's all for the main story, but there will be one more chapter, showing what happened to everyone after the story. I hope you've all enjoyed, and...**

 **This is the last call for answered reviews! Get them in before next chapter!**

 **Reviewer answers!**

 **TyrantChimera: There's backfiring, and then there's the special interdimensional backfire we had here. Thanks for being understanding about the break, I don't want to damage my fingers or something.**


	66. Epilogue

Whatever happened to...

* * *

Arthur Penn, Calm netop.

Arthur became something of a father figure to many people and navis, and worked as both security and a general assistant in Scilabs until his forties, when he switched to becoming a counsellor for humans and navis alike. His letter of recommendation from Eurasia went unused, but he looked at it with pride. He was always there to help Treble and Flare through rough patches in their relationship, and his bond to Treble remained stronger than steel for all his days.

* * *

Treble/Gospel, Buggy wolf.

Searching for foes to fight apart from Gregar, Treble started spending more and more time in the arena, taking on all he could, and sending back a constant stream of defeated navis without losing his cheeriness. His relationship with Flare wasn't without the occasional argument, but not once in two hundred years could anyone ever say they didn't love each other. They were there to support each other through even the most difficult of times. Fifty years after Arthur's passing, Treble stepped out of the public eye, allowing himself to be forgotten, and began to wait for a fateful day in 22XX...

* * *

William, Dutiful boy, and ArsenalMan, Loyal soldier.

William served in one of the last serious military conflicts on earth before Lan's very early BrotherBand prototypes helped solidify world peace, and gave his life to save another fifteen men and women, losing ArsenalMan at the same moment. They were awarded the highest medal for brave sacrifice, and there is a monument to him and his navi currently on display in a 22XX museum. Their memory was honoured up to the very last moment it existed, living on through Treble and his friends for as long as they existed.

* * *

Joe, Studious friend, and MathMan, Analytical expert.

Joe became a professor of physics in a leading university, and published several noteworthy papers in his time, one of which helped Lan's research just a little. None of his friends truly understood his field, but all were happy to congratulate him and were proud to know him. Many years after Joe's passing, MathMan was still teaching, although he had found he preferred to educate those who were newer to the subject. When he became Valerie's math teacher, he had to keep himself from revealing what things Treble had told him.

* * *

Denny, Phantom of justice and PlugMan, Redeemed darkloid.

No records survive of Denny's life- and it is doubtful they ever existed. However, those who knew him knew that he put more criminals behind bars than anyone else, apart from possibly Blaze. PlugMan was not recovered, but the occasional ghost story features a mass of cables that would appear from nowhere and destroy darkness before fading to nothing.

* * *

Beta, Vain system.

Beta was ultimately handed to the government by Denny, and due to his unstable mentality had his weapons removed. Beta himself became a system for logging waste data, a position that he bore with some humiliation, given the demotion. But he was thankful for the chance at a lingering existence. Eventually, Beta was deleted due to file corruption by accidentally absorbing some harmful data, at 134 years old.

* * *

Crescendo, Eraser of evil.

Crescendo was never seen again by Arthur or his friends. However, one day his Erasure buster was mailed to Scilabs from an untraceable address, along with an attached note that read 'I'm happy where I am. Don't worry about me.'

* * *

The four strikers.

The four navis sent by Eurasia were all eventually deleted. LeviathWoman and FightingMan were destroyed after several years by the latent bugs in their programs, SageMan keeping a virus away from a vulnerable navi, and PhantomMan vanished deep into the Undernet, never to be seen again.

* * *

SheepMan, Butler to beasts.

SheepMan continued to serve Flare for as long as he could. He eventually did manage to heal his relationship with Treble, even if Eurasia was something of a sensitive subject to him. He also took it upon himself to purchase a secluded area of the net for Treble and his friends to use the day Valerie would be ready for them, and provided the money to keep it up well after much of the old net had fallen into total disuse in favour of the superior wave roads.

* * *

R, the LifeVirusReborn.

Towards the end of his days, R was embedded into the Colonel and Iris systems to improve them by Wily. What little existed of his personality became a simple task manager to help Colonel run smoothly, and never once did he complain.

* * *

The Colonel System.

This system was adopted by Treble and Flare, in lieu of children that might break the net. While somewhat controversial at first, by the overwhelming evidence and excellent judgement he was able to present for each criminal he deleted the Colonel System became a highly respected and revered pillar of society, the media singing its praises. He continued to be humble yet spirited until the day he was finally obsolete along with the net, when he and his sister were both placed in museums, used as examples to society for generations to come. Treble and Flare were proud to have helped him rise to the challenge, and were sure to praise him.

* * *

The Iris System

This system was adopted by Gregar and Amaterasu, in lieu of children that might break the net. Less controversial than her brother, the Iris System was a tremendous boon to the world, countries practically falling over themselves to install support for her services. The emergency support she could provide when important systems were destabilised or damaged saved millions of lives over the years, and she was eventually proclaimed Saint Iris, much to her adoptive parents joy.

* * *

Derby Rilling, Desolate demolitionist, and BaboonKaboom, Bomber buddy.

Derby's life improved once he was able to overcome his depression. Despite the years it took, he ultimately lived a satisfying life, with an eternal companion. BaboonKaboom's fate is unknown, given that he never appeared before any other human.

* * *

Lady Millions, Bored magnate, and BeautyButterfly, Exquiste EM-form.

Millions struggled with chronic boredom for much of her life, and it seemed nothing could alleviate it. However, late into her sixties she finally found her one true calling in life, as a certain charity's leader. She helped make a serious dent in world hunger, and bought public services for several less fortunate countries. Hearing the adoring cries of her fans miles away, and public adoration did give her that rush she'd been searching for for so long. Her FM-ian ally departed the planet on good terms, and their fate from there onwards is unknown.

 **Author's notes: And that's all for my characters (Butterfly's not mine but she's here because... completionism, I guess). The other fates will be left to the respective author of each character, once they get through their stories. Which are coming along, don't worry.**

 **It's over. Finally, I can lay this story to rest, as complete. It falls to the authors who joined me on this journey to come through for you now, and complete the works.**

 **JaneValentine007 is the creator of Blaze, Ember, Valerie, Chroma and many others, and currently has 'Mega Man Star Force!' on her profile, following Valerie from the start of SF1. She also plans to eventually make a Blaze-centric fic, but not yet.**

 **RushAlias is the creator of Ethan, Alias, Gregar, Flare and many more, and currently has 'Return of the Cybeasts' on his profile, following Ethan from the day he met the beasts. **

**Final reviewer answers!**

 **WanderingAnon: I'm so glad I was able to meet your expectations and provide some happiness. I did personally always worry about my character development, since this was one of the first stories I made a serious effort to have some proper changes in character as time went on. While I will write more in the future, not for Battle Network, and not for a month or two. Maybe Xenoblade Chronicles 2? Or perhaps Fire Emblem.  
**

 **Lucaura678: It's true, I couldn't quite preserve the overall feel of a Battle Network entry. Mainly because I feel like the games used a very 'anime episode/scenario' format where each incident was almost isolated, but I wanted things to tie together a little more. Ultimately, I think that it was a worthwhile sacrifice to gain a better plot and suspense, but whether or not you like it is up to you, not me. Character cycling was really the unintentional effect of me wanting to bring Ethan and Blaze into focus, since it wouldn't have made any sense for William or Joe or Denny to suddenly just skip to the background, but I knew I couldn't keep them as important as they were if I was introducing Ethan and co. I made a lot of effort to show character growth where I could, so I'm glad that paid off. And I hope my epilogue doesn't disappoint, but I did want to help give a definite answer on what happened- You KNOW (most) characters got a happy end. And I can't make an ill-advised sequel.**

 **RushAlias: Glad to have been someone you can count on. Although now I must ask you to return the favour, and see your story through- not that I think you wouldn't! Oh, and you were four chapters in, by the way :). I'm sure that if you stick at it, Return of the Cybeasts will become something you look back on in a good five years and go 'I'm gonna read all my work again, aw yeah'. Have faith in yourself. And we have made new friends. JV007 in particular's been good to us. I'll take that luck, thanks for it! Although, I doubt we'll get a new BN game. But a remake of 2 isn't out of the question! Wouldn't that be something?**

 **TyrantChimera: Well, there already is a sequel, in a manner of speaking. JaneValentine007's Mega Man Star Force introduced Valerie as her OC, and was actually created long before this fic. It's not dead yet, and in time it'll show you all you could wish to know about Nobody, Aegis, Valerie and in due time, perhaps you'll even see some more... familiar faces. I did actually give myself RSI once, but I got better. Still not an experience I wish to repeat.**

 **-Deleted Scene-**

"Wait, so we never fought each other at all in the entire story?" Said Treble. "Not once? Even if we did in those training matches in the three months between?"

"No, I can't find any fight scenes where we're against each other. This guy skipped those three months." Alias closed the document.

"We could fix that now, I guess?" Said Arthur. "Ethan, you up for a quick practice match?"

"Have I ever not been?"

"Alright! Square up." Called Alias, tossing the large word file to Flare and getting his buster ready.

"Ready!" Treble called.

"Alias, lock and code." Intoned Ethan.

"Go!" Said Arthur.

Treble was fast, darting along the battlefield's right hand side as Alias fired his buster, dealing a small amount of damage before Treble closed the gap between them. Alias twisted into an evasive kick intended to ward his foe away for a moment, but Treble slipped under the boot, rising with a strong swipe of claws.

"G-Carving! LifeSword!" Instructed Ethan. "Let's give Durandal some practice! Get it ready!"

"Reflector2, VariableSword. Left down right." Countered Arthur.

Alias' speed burst from G-Carving activating let him move from a fall into a lunge, recovering his stance from Treble's strike. He primed the LifeSword, ready to use at any time, but was wary Treble could very easily send it right back at him with the Reflector. So they duelled hand-to-hand.

Treble was finding Alias' skill with battle claws somewhat lacking compared to Gregar, as he missed a strike by a whole millimetre. He nimbly moved back and jumped into the air, shooting a few times with his tail as a distratioc before landing and throwing the momentum into his arms, generating a weighty downward slash. With some great timing, Alias let loose with the LifeSword, and with the strength boost from his carving and the innate might of the weapon was able to cut Treble clean out of the air.

But the moment he fell, Treble landed and made an attack faster than Alias could even have reacted to, stabbing into him and then pulling in an awkward direction, throwing Alias to the floor. He sprung up, trying to make a recovery attack and got sent straight back down by the Reflector, before putting on a second burst of cybeast speed to dodge the sword Treble buried in the floor he'd been lying on, rising back to his feet.

"Okay, more swords on the way. SP Durandal Ready!" Said Ethan.

"...HeroSword in." Said Arthur.

Alias held out a hand, and formed the large blade, a strange aura of nearly personified sharpness around it. Treble redied the HeroSword, and made a bracing attack, ready for the worst. Alias swung the blade and it almost seemed to guide itself, straight for Treble's hand. With a desperate twist Treble was able to deflect that hit, and then had to make a skin-close jump over the sword as Alias swung it low. He brought the HeroSword down, trying to cut into the replica helmet of Gregar, but then Alias unhesitatingly parried with his free hand, letting the blade bite into his gauntlet, and nearly managed to stab Treble straight through the stomach, if the Durandal had been able to go all the way through. As it was, Treble's armor was too good to go down to any one single blow, as painful as that was.

Treble chomped onto Alias' arm, and was about to bite down when Arthur called. "Stop, stop. He's about to run out of G-Carving, and then you're going to bug him up."

Treble unbit, and spat comically. "Aw, what? It was just getting fun!"

"I can take a bug." Said Alias defensively.

Ethan shrugged. "Just give us a moment to regenerate. Another round?"

"Of course!"

 **And as I always will when seeing off a story for the last time, a thank you by name to everyone who reviewed!**

 **Thanks to Ahnjuu, A Fan, JaneValentine007, Guest, RushAlias, RandyPandy, GuestEX, AgeOfAdvent, WanderingAnon, Lucaura678, jon12231223, Skotino, and TyrantChimera.**


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